• 7 years ago
• Posted in:Domestic violence, Murder/ Manslaughter, Possession of weapons, Violent Offences
• 0
• Author: melodie
• Tags: Carstairs Hospital, Convicted 1980s, Convicted 1984, Detained without limit, Domestic violence, Edinburgh, Family member victim, Indeterminate sentence, Male victim, Mental health, Not guilty by reason of insanity, Offended 1984, Peter Kirkwood, pre-GRS, Pre-transition, Prison transition, Psychiatric hospital, Rampton, Rosemary Kirkwood, Schizophrenia, Scotland, Trans woman

Silhouette image via Wikimedia Commons

Peter / Rosemary Kirkwood, a violent male who identified as a trans woman subsequent to his conviction, was ordered to be detained without limit in a psychiatric hospital in 1984 after attacking his father with an axe. Kirkwood, then aged 27, was found not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity (he was seriously mentally ill with schizophrenia at the time).

Kirkwood, 55, was reported in 2012 to have changed his name to Rosemary and planning to have gender reassignment surgery to live as a trans woman. Kirkwood’s request to wear stereotypically female clothes and make-up was permitted in private, but not in communal areas of the hospital.

A source at the State Hospital at Carstairs (a male psychiatric hospital in Lanarkshire) was reported in the Daily Mail as saying “Any patient that did manage to persuade the authorities that they must have the procedure would be in for a shock if they thought it was a way out of the hospital system. They would simply be transferred to Rampton.”

Media reports

Edinburgh Evening News https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/health/sex-change-nhs-bid-axe-attacker-1612360  archive

The Scotsman http://www.scotsman.com/news/sex-change-on-nhs-bid-by-axe-attacker-1-2478190

Scottish Mail On Sunday (archived) https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scottish-mail-on-sunday/20120819/281565172919751

Mail On Sunday (archived) https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-300131882.html