Alan Baker (#1)/Sarah Jane Baker

8 years ago
Posted in:Domestic violence, Kidnap/Abduction, Murder/ Manslaughter, Rape / Sexual Assault, Sexual Offences, Torture, Violent Offences
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Author: melodie
Tags: 10+ years imprisonment, 15+ years imprisonment, 20+ years imprisonment, Aged <20, Aged 20-29, Alan Baker, Anti-feminist, Consulted on prison trans policy, Convicted 1990s, Convicted 1998, Domestic abuse/violence, England, Extreme violence, Family member victim, HMP Elmley, HMP Full Sutton, HMP Lewes, HMP Leyhill, HMP North Sea Camp, HMP Wandsworth, Indeterminate sentence, IPP, Life sentence, Likely story, Looked after child, Male prison, Male victim, Metropolitan Police, Multiple victims, Munroe Bergdorf, No transfer, Offended while in custody, Offending date unknown, Politician, pre-GRS, Pre-transition, Pride, Prison transition, Prisoner victim, Refused transfer to women's prison, Reoffended while on licence/bail, Sarah Jane Baker, Self-castration, Surrey, Sussex, Trans activist, Trans woman

Alan/Sarah Jane Baker, a violent male who identifies as a trans woman, was jailed for life in 1998 on an indeterminate sentence (with a nine year tariff) after trying to kill another prisoner, an alleged child rapist. At the time Baker was serving a jail sentence for the kidnap and torture of a family member (stepmother’s brother). Baker, from Croydon in Surrey, reportedly also has previous convictions for armed robbery and drug dealing.

It was reported in August 2013 that Baker was undergoing surgery to become a trans woman while at HMP Elmley, a local Category B/C men’s prison, before transfer to a women’s prison. Baker was apparently due a parole hearing in October 2013, aged 43, having been in prison since the age of 19 but was not released.

In 2007, Baker reportedly escaped from an open prison – HMP Leyhill in South Gloucestershire – and met up with a pen pal who had recently been in touch. Baker was on the run for around 100 days before being apprehended and the pen pal later gave birth to their son.

In 2014 Baker made an allegation of assault and torture by two prison officers on the way back from an appointment at Charing Cross Hospital’s gender clinic. The prison has denied the claims.

In 2017 Baker published a book entitled Transgender Behind Prison Walls and maintains a Twitter account where ‘all Tweets and replies are sent for & on behalf of Sarah’ and location is given as HMP Lewes (a local men’s prison in Sussex) indicating Baker has not fulfilled criteria to be transferred to a women’s prison.

Not to be confused with Alan Baker #2, another violent male who identifies as a trans woman, who was convicted of murder in 2013.

*Update December 2019*

Baker was released from prison in 2019 after having served 30 years in male prisons. Discussing an intent to set up a group to represent transgender prisoners during a newspaper interview, Baker is quoted as saying, “The problem is we’re not all in for shoplifting. Some of them are some of the worst child sex offenders in the world. They’ve committed some horrendous crimes.”

Baker also stated that in December 2017, having been refused female hormones, “I cut my testicles off when I was in my prison cell. There was so much blood, I nearly died. But it meant the clinic had to give me oestrogen.” See here for other violent trans offenders who have removed their own testicles in prison.

*Update June 2021*

Baker was fêted as a speaker at the Trans Pride March in London on 26 June and photographed with Munroe Bergdorf – the trans activist who was dropped by the NSPCC for making statements that breached its safeguarding rules and who (despite being male) loves to tell women they’re doing feminism wrong. Baker was also photographed with a placard saying ‘Be Trans Do Crime’ in red paint (see image above), part of a series carried at the march which included the slogans ‘Sex Work Is Work’, ‘Dykes 4 Trans Rights’ and ‘Kill JK Rowling’. See more on the rise of violent misogyny at Pride here

*Update 8 July 2023*

At the Trans Pride March in London on 8 July 2023, Baker took to the stage with an antifa flag in front of thousands of trans supporters – and the Met Police – to incite violence against women. Baker (who presumably remains on licence from prison) is clearly heard saying “I was gonna come here and be really fluffy, be really nice, be really lovely and queer and gay…nah, if you see a terf, punch ’em in the fucking face”. The crowd cheers their approval, like the bunch of violent male misogynists they surely are.

Here it is on video! Recorded by @dazed and reposted by London Trans Pride on Instagram.

Convicted kidnapper and torturer, Sarah Jane Baker, on the Trans Pride stage, saying “If you see a TERF, punch them in the fucking face!” to a cheering crowd 🙂 pic.twitter.com/dK9Jde26sF

— Kat Gorbeh 🔅 (@katgorbeh) July 8, 2023

Remember when Pride was a celebration? Now it's a bunch of ugly straight men threatening violence against women.

— Kate Cameron (@KateCameron_NZ) July 9, 2023

By the next day, the video of Baker had had over 4 million views on Twitter alone, but no trans organisations or prominent trans activists condemned it. The only politician to acknowledge repeated requests from feminists to condemn Baker’s incitement to violence against women was Clive Lewis MP who condemned violence in general and then implied that both sides were to blame for toxicity on the issue, despite feminists never having incited, threatened or perpetrated violence against trans people – unlike the other way around. Clive Lewis was heavily criticised in 2017 after a video emerged of him at a Labour event yelling “On your knees, bitch”.

This is a record of all the events WPUK have organised since November 2017. Nearly all have been subject to sustained opposition and obstruction including the spread of lies about our campaign, abuse of women who spoke or attended, and aggressive, threatening protests…

— Woman’s Place UK (@Womans_Place_UK) July 9, 2023

Daily Mail coverage quotes the Metropolitan Police as saying ‘We are aware of a video filmed in Westminster on Saturday, 8 July showing a speaker making remarks during the Trans Pride event. ‘We have received a number of reports in relation to the video. Officers are reviewing it to determine what further action may be necessary.’ The video appears to have been uploaded by the event organisers, seemingly totally oblivious that inciting a crowd of thousands to assault women really isn’t going to help convince people that trans activism isn’t rooted in misogyny.

Lloyd Russell Moyle, MP with Baker in January 2023. Via Getty Images

In the Daily Telegraph, the Trans+ Pride organisers appeared to defend Baker’s incitement to violence against women saying that ‘speakers at the event “hold a lot of rage” which they “have the right to express” through words’. In 2019, Scottish Trans Pride similarly defended a violent trans-identified male named Peyton Rose Monteux who threatened to ‘throat punch’ feminists.

Earlier in 2023, three Labour politicians Nadia Whittome MP, Olivia Blake MP and Lloyd Russell Moyle MP (who intimidated and tried to shout down female MPs in the House of Commons during a debate about gender ideology) shared a platform with Baker and then denied any knowledge of who Baker is.

*Update 16 July*

Baker appears to have been arrested on the afternoon of 12 July 2023, on suspicion of incitement to violence. The Daily Mail interviewed Baker’s original victim, now 52, who revealed that (unsurprisingly) he still bears the scars of the kidnap at knifepoint, torture and rape he was subjected to as a teenager. The judge apparently described the ordeal as ‘an exercise in sadism and cruelty which may well have led to his death’.

BREAKING: A trans activist who called for violence against women critical of gender ideology at a Trans Pride rally in London last week has now been arrested.

Sarah Jane Baker has previous convictions for kidnapping and attempted murder. pic.twitter.com/G2tdy0w3N1

— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) July 12, 2023

The arrest came after a media furore lasting several days and multiple reports made by women to the police and probation service.

I'm glad the police have decided to investigate this incident at a Trans Pride Event, having initially closed it with no further action.

I'm sure the police will consider the evidence carefully.https://t.co/wRkZrc2mB5 https://t.co/wRkZrc2mB5

— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) July 10, 2023

We have written to @metpoliceuk Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley about the incitement to violence at #TransPride pic.twitter.com/vnnrzTypC3

— Sex Matters (@SexMattersOrg) July 10, 2023

*Update 20 July 2023*

Baker was remanded to prison after appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court via video-link from HMP Wandsworth, a men’s prison. Baker denies using threatening or abusive words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment alarm and distress. A trial date was set for August 31 at City of London Magistrates’ Court. On the 17 August, Baker was further charged with encouraging assault.

*Update 31 August*

At trial at City of London Magistrates Court, Baker turned on the waterworks and told the magistrate that the intention wasn’t to incite people to punch women but to gain publicity for transgender causes by getting coverage in newspapers.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram found Baker not guilty saying he was not sure Baker’s intent was for the words to be carried out. He added: ‘I think it’s also possible you’re just, as you say, an idiot who was trying to get attention to your cause, that you didn’t intend for people to do it, but you said it because you wanted the publicity.’ Baker immediately denied being an idiot after the acquittal.

Because Baker, 54, has breached the terms of his licence (issued when released from prison on the attempted murder conviction) he will now have to wait for a parole hearing before being considered for release from prison – which might not take place until March 2024.

Black and white image: Daily Mail

Images at London Trans Pride 2021: The Glinner Update archive