A rapist who began identifying as a woman after the attack and was referred to as “she” in court was sentenced to six and a half years in a male prison yesterday.
Lexi Secker, 35, cried when a judge said he had “considered how difficult a prison sentence in a men’s institution will be.”
Wiltshire Police faced criticism last month after refusing to specify the defendant’s biological sex, saying “the offense was recorded as having been committed by a man”, but Secker went on trial “as a woman”.
Judge Jason Taylor told Swindon Crown Court that the attack was carried out by a man “clearly attracted to women” who was focusing on “sexual gratification” after luring a drunk woman to a secluded part of the woods in Wiltshire.
Rapist Lexi Secker, 35, who began identifying as a woman after the attack, has been sentenced to six and a half years in men’s prison.
The judge told Secker: ‘You now identify as a woman and are attracted to men. At the time of this crime, you were a man.
“You identified as a man and, based on the evidence, you were clearly attracted to women.”
A police statement from June said that “at the time of the crime, Secker was living as a man” and that the crime “was recorded as having been committed by a man.”
A police statement said Secker was tried “as a woman” at Swindon Crown Court despite saying the rapist was “living as a man” at the time of the offence.
But the statement also said Secker was tried “as a woman” and referred to the rapist as “a person.”
Fiona McAnena, from the charity Sex Matters, said at the time: “This person is a man.” Why don’t the police say so? Do you think they have to pretend, because now he says he is a woman, despite having committed the greatest male crime: rape?
‘It is very worrying to see the police pandering to the feelings of trans-identified men. “It does not give confidence that they are monitoring without fear or favor.”