A double trans rapist received more than £30,000 in taxpayers’ money to defend herself – while she was initially sent to a women’s prison.
Isla Bryson, 31, was convicted in January of raping two women: one in Clydebank in 2016 and one in Drumchapel, Glasgow, in 2019.
The case caused a stir after Bryson was initially housed in a female-only prison before being moved to the male estate following the outcry.
She committed the crimes while still a man known as Adam Graham amd was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Bryson met both victims online, with prosecutors saying the 31-year-old was “preying” on vulnerable women.
Isla Bryson, 31, pictured, was convicted in January of raping two women: one in Clydebank in 2016 and one in Drumchapel, Glasgow, in 2019
She committed the crimes while still a man known as Adam Graham (pictured) and was sentenced to eight years in prison
Bryson met both victims online, with prosecutors saying the 31-year-old was “preying” on vulnerable women. She began transitioning after being accused of the rapes in 2020 at the age of 29
Bryson still has a penis and began menopause after being accused of the rapes in 2020 at the age of 29.
The sex beast’s lawyers received a total of £30,428.23 in fees, VAT, expenses and lawyers’ fees from a fund from the Scottish Legal Aid Board.
A spokesman for the Scottish Legal Aid Board said: ‘Anyone charged with a serious criminal offense has the right to a fair trial and effective representation helps.
“In addition to preventing miscarriages of justice, paying lawyers to represent a defendant who qualifies for legal aid helps the process run smoothly and can help reduce discomfort and distress for victims and witnesses.”
The Scottish Justice Minister Keith Brown ordered an urgent review of the case and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) took the decision to halt the transfer of all transgender prisoners with a history of violence against women to the female estate.
Bryson was moved from Scotland’s only women’s prison to a men’s prison within hours of a humiliating turnaround by ex-Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The SNP leader revealed the turnaround just 24 hours after her own Justice Minister Keith Brown backed the Scottish Prison Service’s decision to place the transgender double rapist with female prisoners at Cornton Vale.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said today: “It would have taken no public revulsion and a slew of negative headlines about a double rapist being sent to a women’s prison before Nicola Sturgeon realized this was completely unacceptable and wrong.”
The double rapist will serve his sentence at HMP Edinburgh, also known as Saughton Prison, which was built in 1920 and holds around 900 prisoners a day.
Isla Bryson leaves Edinburgh High Court in a prison van after being sentenced to eight years in prison
“They are the ones who are suffering and all he has done is strike a blow to try and get a softer sentence.
The sex attacker’s estranged wife dismissed the double rapist’s eight-year prison sentence as “not nearly enough.”
Shonna Graham, 31, said: ‘He – and I will always call him a he – will be out of prison in four years, but his two victims will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.
“It’s an insult to them that their whole ordeal was barely discussed and it was all about him and what kind of prison he should go to.
“I’m glad they finally made sense and put him in a man’s prison and I hope he has a hard time there – he deserves it after what he’s done.”
Shonna said she thought 15 years would have been a more appropriate sentence for the double rapist, but she welcomed Lord Scott’s words when he told Bryson, “You see yourself as the victim in this case.” You are not.’
It came just weeks after the devolved Scottish Parliament passed a bill to make it easier for people to change legal gender, drawing criticism from women’s rights campaigners who claim predatory men could use it to access spaces for the same sex, such as bathrooms.
The Westminster government has since said it will block the change because it would affect equality issues in the rest of the country.
The issue also came to a head shortly before Nicola Sturgeon said she would step down as Scottish First Minister after nearly a decade in power, saying she had become too divided.
At today’s sentencing, Lord Scott noted that Bryson continues to “strongly deny” the crimes and claims that the victims “conspired” to press charges.
Shonna Graham, 31, married the evil Graham when he was a man before his trial
Shonna Graham and Isla Bryson – then Adam Graham – on their wedding day
The court heard the rapist, who appeared in court wearing a blonde wig, black leggings and a fluorescent pink jacket, is still pursuing a full gender reassignment and is receiving “the maximum recommended doses of hormone prescription” from the Sandyford Sexual Health Clinic in Glasgow.
Defense attorney Edward Targowski KC said this, coupled with “troubled early years,” left Bryson vulnerable.
He told the court that the criminal’s transition after both rapes was not “an afterthought, cynically intended to reduce the sentence,” in contrast to what he described as “ill-informed and ill-judged comments” made outside of court.
But Lord Scott said the seriousness of the crimes “much outweigh” Bryson’s extenuating circumstances.
He acknowledged that Bryson is considered “vulnerable in some ways” due to adverse childhood experiences, but said, “You see yourself as the victim in this situation. You are not.
“Your vulnerability is no excuse at all for what you did to these two women.
“You raped two women, both of whom could be considered vulnerable.”
