Gavin Boyd

Gavin/ Joyce Boyd, a violent male transvestite and sex offender, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 20 year old Vikki McGrand in her Ayr home. Ms McGrand was the fiancee of Boyd’s brother.

At the High Court in Glasgow in May 2010, Lord Turnbull told Boyd that he could not be considered for parole until he had served 20 years, before adding: “you may never be released”.

The court heard that Boyd, 51, and Ms McGrand had been friends and she even offered to help him with his make-up when he dressed up as ‘Joyce’. Ms McGrand was said to have a DVD of Boyd which showed him wearing a red PVC skirt, suspenders, boots and a silver tiara. Boyd maintained that she refused to give him the DVD and was threatening to tell his family about his crossdressing, so he punched her on the head, knocked her to the ground, tied a Playstation cable round her neck and then pressed a pillow over her face, smothering her. However, Robert McCall, (Vikki’s fiancé) said that other family members were already aware that Boyd liked to dress up in women’s clothes, making the blackmail claim unlikely and simply a way to denigrate the victim/attempt to justify murderous violence.

While he had been out on licence in 1999, Boyd tried to rape a 19-year-old woman in her home and repeatedly hit her with a knife which left her permanently disfigured. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and sent to high security HMP Peterhead, a specialist centre for sex offenders. However, despite his appalling record, Boyd was released in 2006 after just seven years. Initially he was supervised 24 hours a day. But this was reduced to just 14 hours a week shortly before he murdered Ms McGrand in August 2008.

Boyd was first admitted to Carstairs psychiatric hospital in 1977, aged just 18, following convictions for theft and willful fireraising. He was released nine years later. He was then convicted of indecent assault, theft, housebreaking, breach of the peace and breach of bail. The authorities recalled Boyd to Carstairs, but released him again in 1992.

In August 2016, along with Andrew Burns (a violent male serial offender who identifies as a woman), Boyd was one of 100 prisoners in HMP Glenochil who falsely declared they were Jewish to receive kosher food.

Image of Gavin Boyd (centre) via STV News

Media Reports

BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/10164595  archive

Daily Record https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cross-dressing-sex-beast-is-jailed-for-20-1060080  archive

Daily Record https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/man-trial-murder-vikki-mcgrand-2425477  archive

Scottish Daily Mail https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scottish-mail-on-sunday/20160821/281840053079476

Scottish Mail On Sunday https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scottish-mail-on-sunday/20160821/281840053079476

STV News https://stv.tv/news/west-central/179882-sex-beast-jailed-for-ayr-murder/