Marcus Smith/Adam Hodgson/Layla Le Fey

Marcus Smith/Adam Hodgson/ Layla/Leila Le Fey, a violent male who identifies as a transgender woman, was convicted of assault and possession of an offensive weapon at Lewes Crown Court in February 2020.

Le Fey, 40, attempted to steal wine from a convenience store in Brighton while intoxicated at 4am and, when challenged, threatened the store manager with a claw hammer – behaviour that the judge described as inexcusable and terrifying.

However, an hour after jailing Le Fey for six months, the judge u-turned and suspended the sentence as lawyers argued that, having failing to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), Le Fey would be sent to a men’s prison and allegedly kept in solitary confinement. Le Fey claimed to have completed gender reassignment, though court staff were unsurprisingly unwilling to verify this claim.

Judge Stephen Mooney said “Having reflected again upon the impact an immediate custodial sentence would have, the difficulties there are and the intractable problems the prison service would face, I have reconsidered whether imprisonment must be immediate.” He also ordered Le Fey to complete 30 rehabilitation sessions.

Le Fey has previously been convicted of over 50 offences dating back to 2005 including three convictions for brandishing a bladed article in public and described as a ‘sheer relentless pattern of offending’.

See this tag for many other examples of violent trans-identified male offenders receiving no jail time or suspended sentences for offences that could reasonably be expected to result in prison time. In 2018, “Helen” (a male who identifies as a transgender woman) sought to delete two convictions from their record, arguing that the offence – importuning, a male prostitution offence – outed them as transgender. In Australia in 2019, another trans-identified male succeeded in having their conviction expunged for possession of CSA images involving children as young as five years old, after a psychologist testified it was ‘due to curiosity’ and ‘sexual adjustment issues’.

See this tag for other violent trans-identifed males who have committed violent offences involving a hammer, including two murders and the road rage hammer attack perpetrated by Carol Lea against a young woman in 2019.

Media reports

The Spectator https://beta.spectator.co.uk/article/meet-the-thug-who-was-spared-jail-for-being-transgender archive

Daily Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/27/hammer-wielding-wine-thief-spared-prison-transgender/ archive

Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8050985/Transgender-woman-spared-jail-attacking-man-claw-hammer.html archive

Metro https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/27/transgender-shoplifter-spared-jail-no-way-confirm-gender-12314791/ archive

Brighton & Hove News https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2020/02/26/hammer-wielding-brighton-shoplifter-jailed-for-terrifying-assault/ archive

Daily Mirror https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/transgender-thief-avoids-prison-because-21592330 archive

The Argus https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/18264144.brighton-hammer-thief-spared-prison-trangender/ archive