Helen Doe

Helen Doe, a violent male who identifies as a trans woman, was acquitted of attempted murder after a jury accepted a “sleepwalking” defence at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court in 2015.  Doe was reported to be “in the process of changing gender to that of a female” and began transition in 2012.

Doe, 53, told police of waking with an “overwhelming hatred” of 64 year old brother Kenneth Doe and admitted hitting him with foot and a half long metal bar as he lay asleep in bed. He received three wounds to his skull plus a broken finger as he tried to defend himself. The prosecution case was that in striking him several times in the head with an iron bar Doe, intended to kill him.

As Kenneth Doe was rushed to hospital, Helen Doe asked a female police officer: “Can I have a cuddle?” The court also heard that Doe spoke freely in the van on the way to Sutton police station, confessing: “I wanted to do it. I wanted to kill him.”

Medical experts backed Doe’s claim of ‘non-insane automatism‘, a defence whereby a person is not conscious of their actions due to an external factor such as medication. In other words, the defence claimed Doe’s sleepwalking and violence was due to the drugs the defendant was taking which included female hormone treatment and prescribed drugs for anxiety and depression.

Doe was reportedly leader of the Croydon Trans Group and was sacked from the Metropolitan Police in October 2014 following arrest in July 2014.

Photo via Evening Standard

Media reports

Evening Standard http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/sleepwalking-transsexual-met-worker-cleared-of-murder-bid-a2633326.html archive

Daily Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-worker-cleared-attempting-murder-6251076

Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3097949/Transsexual-police-worker-battered-brother-head-iron-bar-claims-sleep-walking-did-not-know-court-hears.html