Andrew Burns / Tiffany Scott
Andrew Burns / Tiffany Scott (aka Obi Wan Kenobi/Mighty Almighty), a violent male who identifies as a trans woman, is a serial violent offender with a string of convictions for violence against women (including members of the public, nurses and prison officers), assaults, stalking, criminal damage, vandalism, making false allegations against prison officers and resisting arrest.
Burns/Scott, of Kinglassie, Fife is one of only around 100 offenders in Scotland subject to an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR), under which prisoners are only released once no longer considered an “unmanageable risk to public safety”.
In August 2017, Burns/Scott was convicted of five charges of assault and one of criminal damage between August and October 2015 while held in a segregation unit at HMP Glenochil. Burns/Scott, 26, had smeared excrement over a cell at HMP Glenochil, ripped up supposedly tear-proof clothing, bitten open veins to spray people with blood, and assaulted four warders and a prison nurse. The prisoner became so aggressive that medical staff at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary refused to treat him after he hit a nurse across the back with a chair. It took 11 security and prison officers to get him under control. Burns/Scott had also apparently “refuse[d] to be searched by G4S as he claims to identify as a woman”.
Screenshot of @ScottishSun tweet
Burns/Scott was referred to as a woman using female pronouns ‘she’ and ‘her’ in media coverage of the 2017 trial.
Burns/Scott appeared at Falkirk Sheriff’s Court, one of the highest-security court complexes in Scotland after an earlier trial at a local court was abandoned after an internal report warned Scott was “too dangerous” to be tried in public. After an outcry from prison officers’ union officials, it was re-raised in Falkirk. Burns/Scott was sentenced to a further year in prison and is believed to be serving the sentence at HMP Edinburgh.
Following the initial decision to abandon the trial, Andy Hogg, assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers Association Scotland POAS, said: “We have members who were injured through this guy’s violence. Surely it cannot be in the public interest not to prosecute. It’s definitely not in the interest of our members. It seems they’re saying the more violent you become, the less likely it is you will be taken to court.”
Scott Donohoe of union Unison said: “We have zero tolerance towards any of our nursing staff being assaulted. We believe any violence against our members should be dealt with severely by the courts.”
In court Burns/Scott replied “no” when asked by the clerk “Are you Tiffany Louise Scott, formerly known as Andrew Burns?”to which the Sheriff Derek Livingston said: “I’m satisfied that’s who he is.” In reply, Scott shouted: “I’m not ‘he’ anything – she.”
In April 2016 Burns, then aged 25, reportedly changed his name to Tiffany Scott and demanded only female officers in HMP Glenochil search him, although he was reported to not to be undergoing any treatment to transition to live as a trans woman nor have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Three female prison officers defied orders to give Burns intimate body checks and brought in their trade union to support them. See also guards at HMYOI Polmont housing Aaron Herschell.
In August 2016, along with another violent trans-identified male prisoner Gavin Boyd (a sex offender serving life for murder), Burns/Scott led 100 fellow inmates in falsely declaring they were Jewish to receive kosher food.
In 2015, an officer at the prison described Burns as a ‘menace’. ‘In his time at Glenochil he’s raised hundreds of complaints which have to be answered by a manager, and when he’s not satisfied with the response, he sends the complaint to the Governor’, the officer told the Daily Record.
In 2013, Burns was convicted of stalking a 13-year-old girl by sending her letters from HMYOI Polmont. He was sentenced to 14 months and given the OLR at the High Court in Glasgow.
In 2010, Burns attacked a nurse while escaping from a Cheshire hospital where he was detained. He also threw roof tiles at police and private vehicles, causing car damage totalling £5,000 and roof damage totalling £12,000 during an 8-hour siege on the hospital roof. When arrested he had 10 outstanding warrants for his arrest in Scotland and was sentenced to 13 months in a young offenders’ institution in August 2013.
Unbelievably, the police mistakenly gave Burns the address of one of the car’s owners. He sent her a letter from prison saying: “The police gave me your address by mistake. Sorry about the damage to your car. It was nothing personal.”
Judge Elgan Edwards: ”It’s remarkable the police have given the address of the victim to the defendant and she’s obviously very distressed by it.”
*Update January 2023*
In an extremely concerning development, The Daily Record reported that Andrew Burns had secured the agreement of prison officers to transfer to a women’s facility. Burns was said to be likely to transfer to the new HMP Stirling later in 2023, and held in segregation. However, in the wake of the furore around rapist Adam/Graham/Isla Bryson being initially allocated to a women’s prison, the Scottish government announced on 29 January that an “urgent review” of all transgender cases in Scottish prisons is to be carried out, and the movement of all trans prisoners with a history of violence against women will be paused until the review ends.
Tiffany Scott – formerly Andrew Burns, one of the most dangerous prisoners in Scotland has gained approval to be moved to the women’s prison estate. Scott has attacked female prison officers and stalked a child from prison. No men should be placed in a women’s prison. pic.twitter.com/11qlL5f5JF
— Ash Regan MSP (@AshReganALBA) January 28, 2023
*Update October 2023*
Burns/Scott was convicted at Glasgow Sheriff Court in October 2023 of four assaults, all on male prison officers working at HMP Low Moss – two on separate occasions in the prison and the other two while being treated in Glasgow Royal Infirmary after swallowing a pen.
Burns/Scott was also convicted of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and a vandalism charge, having ripped the seat of a cell van when being transported to a court in January 2020.
The trial had to be moved to a larger courtroom to accommodate extra measures put in place to manage Burns/Scott’s level of threat and violence. This included members of the public and legal officials being positioned a significant distance away from the dock. An order had to be made by Sheriff Stuart Reid on the second day of the trial for the prisoner not to be in attendance following Burns/Scott’s conduct in court. The Sheriff sentenced Burns/Scott to two years in prison for these latest offences.
See this post for a list of all the trans-identified males who have violently and/or sexually assaulted fellow prisoners, prison officers and police officers.
*Update February 2024*
Burns/Scott was reported to have died, aged 32, in custody in HMP Grampian on the 29 February 2024. Police Scotland were advised and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal. All deaths in custody are subject to Fatal Accident Inquiries.
Photo via Scottish Sun
Media reports:
BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-68442073 archive
Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12633157/Scotland-transgender-prisoner-convicted-assaulting-guards-life-sentence.html archive
BBC News “Isla Bryson case: Movement of violent transgender prisoners paused” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64444530 archive
Daily Record https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/new-trans-prisoner-storm-looms-29069314 archive
BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64438457
Daily Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/female-prison-officers-refuse-strip-7667184 archive
Daily Record http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/too-dangerous-dock-prisoner-andrew-10272096
Daily Record http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/attack-charges-dropped-against-violent-10233253
Crewe Chronicle http://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/news/local-news/escaped-fugitive-pelted-cars-leighton-5611816
International Business Times http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/scotland-jail-inmates-convert-judaism-get-better-prison-food-1580210
Scottish Daily Mail https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scottish-mail-on-sunday/20160821/281840053079476
Daily Record http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/sex-swap-prisoner-sparks-revolt-7666459
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