John/Claire Goodier

John/Claire Goodier, a violent male who identifies as a transgender woman, was convicted at Chester Crown Court in 2021 of multiple charges including bestiality and cocaine possession. Goodier, 60, was jailed for 20 months, ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register and made subject to a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Previously, Goodier has twice been convicted of possessing indecent images of children, in 2006 and 2009, and was consequently on the sex offenders’ register. When police carried out a routine check at Goodier’s home on 19 July 2019, they found a laptop which contained evidence Goodier had searched the internet for bestiality content.

Two years later, after a full analysis of the laptop, hidden folders were found containing 31 indecent images of Goodier perpetrating sex offences on an Alsatian dog. When Goodier was subsequently arrested on 17 June 2021, police also found a pen drive in a handbag which contained the same images and 3.5 grammes of cocaine. (See also another trans-identified male sex offender who sexually penetrated a dog belonging to a woman visiting a Cornwall tourist attraction).

When the sexual offences were perpetrated between December 15 and 16, 2018, Goodier had also been in breach of a suspended sentence, imposed in May of that year, for failing to adhere to the terms of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO). Goodier also failed to comply with the terms of the SHPO in November 2020, blaming the coronavirus pandemic.

The judge told Goodier at sentencing “Your record is appalling and it could be said you were astonishingly lucky not to go to prison previously. A message must go out that if you commit such disgusting behaviour then you must go to prison.”

Many news outlets referred to Goodier as a woman in headlines and reporting, prompting incredulous readers to complain. A tweet by The Sun, for example, received over 2,400 replies and a further 1,500 quotes tweets criticising the editorial policy of ascribing male pattern sexual violence to women.

When Goodier appeared in court to plead guilty to the charges in October 2021 local news coverage was headlined “Northwich man admits having sex with a dog”. However at the sentencing hearing in December 2021 Goodier was listed at court under the defendant’s legal male name of John Goodier but with a note added to be addressed as Claire which presumably resulted in the headline being changed to “Northwich woman…” in subsequent coverage. It is unknown if Goodier has been incarcerated in a male or female prison, though the former is more likely without a gender recognition certificate.

Coverage in Northwich Guardian

Goodier image credit: Cheshire Police

Media reports

Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10336917/Paedophile-60-identifies-female-jailed-20-months-sex-dog.html archive

Northwich Guardian https://www.northwichguardian.co.uk/news/19802592.northwich-woman-jailed-cocaine-fuelled-sex-dog/ archive

Northwich Guardian https://www.northwichguardian.co.uk/news/19682778.northwich-man-admits-sex-dog/ archive

The Sun https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/17120239/woman-jailed-cocaine-fuelled-sex-alsatian/ archive