Martyn / Jade Eatough

Martyn / Jade Eatough, a violent male who identified as a trans woman in prison, was convicted of the rape and attempted kidnap of a 15 year old girl and sexually assaulting a 19 year old woman in Blackburn on the same night in June 2005. 

Eatough, 24, was sentenced to life imprisonment at Preston Crown Court in 2006 and was placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely. Contemporary media articles reported that Eatough initially denied the offences but DNA evidence linked the defendant to the 15 year old victim.

At the hearing, Eatough pleaded not guilty to two further charges of rape and sexual assault on a third woman in April 2005. The Crown accepted the pleas and no evidence on the two additional charges was submitted. 

The attacks were extremely violent with Eatough initially attempting to rob the 15 year old girl before raping her at knifepoint; Eatough had previous convictions including arson and two offences of attempted robbery and  had also been cautioned for simulating raping a girl under 10.

Judge Slinger told Eatough there was a “real and significant risk or further very serious offences being committed by you”. He also cited the psychiatric report which stated that “even with active assistance and treatment, any gains are likely to be minimal because violent sexual offending usually stems from ingrained, deviant sexual attitudes.”

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Inspector Jim Elston said: “He has shown no remorse and his guilty plea only came as a result of the overwhelming evidence against him.” In prison, Eatough’s behaviour was described as changeable and in July 2017, Eatough lost a gardening job after threatening a member of staff. The Parole Board repeatedly refused a transfer to an open prison as Eatough needed to complete further
offending behaviour work to reduce risk to others.

Eatough was found dead in a cell at HMP Isle of Wight in 2017, aged 35. Media reported that Eatough had been on the transgender pathway. Prison Service spokesperson confirmed “HMP Parkhurst prisoner Jade Eatough died in custody on Saturday 19 August 2017.

Prisons & Probation Ombudsman report on the death of the prisoner https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/ppo-prod-storage-1g9rkhjhkjmgw/uploads/2019/06/F3249-17-Death-of-Ms-Jade-Eatough-Isle-of-Wight-19-08-2017-SI-31-40-35.pdf

Photo via Accrington Observer

Media reports

Lancashire Telegraph http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/hyndburn/oswaldtwistle/701502.Knifepoint_rapist_gets_life_sentence/  archive

Accrington Observer http://www.accringtonobserver.co.uk/news/local-news/violent-beast-jailed-for-life-1267831  archive 

Accrington Observer http://www.accringtonobserver.co.uk/news/local-news/sex-attacker-faces-jail-after-1267513

Daily Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/transgender-woman-found-dead-cell-11266405  archive

The Sun https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4585341/transgender-rapist-hanged-prison-cell-parkhurst/