• 2 weeks ago
• Posted in:Assault/Wounding, Burglary/Robbery, Domestic violence, Murder/ Manslaughter, Rape / Sexual Assault, Sexual Offences, Violent Offences
• 0
• Author: Trans Crime
• Tags: Aged 20-29, Aged 30-39, Alcohol, Blamed alcohol, Blamed mental health issues, Convicted 2013, Convicted 2021, Convicted 2024, Extreme violence, Female victim, HCP victim, HMP Glenochil, Home invasion, Multiple victims, Neighbour victim, Offended 2010, Offended 2010s, Offended 2012, Offended 2013, Offended 2021, Offended 2023, Police Scotland, PTSD, Repeat offender, Sandyford, Strangulation, Substance misuse, Trans woman

Jason Graham (aka Jason Evans), a violent male with gender identity issues, was convicted at at the High Court in Livingston, Scotland in November 2021 of the brutal rape and murder of Esther Brown, aged 67, a retired librarian. Graham, aged 30, was sentenced to 19 years in prison.

At the sentencing hearing, the judge told Graham that the attack involved “the most depraved actions on your part, characterised by utter brutality” and “excessive, sustained violence” directed against Ms Brown.

Graham was (supposedly) being monitored as a registered sex offender at the time of the attack, after his early release on licence in 2018 from a seven and a half year sentence for punching, kicking and raping another woman, a 50 year-old nurse, in 2013. Graham had 23 previous convictions and had perpetrated numerous home invasions and burglaries targeting vulnerable women in sheltered housing. He had also previously been arrested for violent attacks involving strangulation on multiple women, including an assault on a 17-year-old girlfriend in 2010 in which he “pinned her to a bed, strangled her and punched her” and a similar assault on an 18-year-old girlfriend in 2012.

He changed his surname to Evans just months before murdering Ms Brown in May 2021, and had reportedly told social workers he was confused over his sexual identity and wanted to change gender. This led doctors to suggest referral to Glasgow’s Sandyford gender clinic to “address his issues”. Graham’s defence blamed alcohol and post-traumatic stress disorder in relation to a “traumatic childhood event” for his appalling violence against women.

The Daily Record revealed Graham’s gender identity issues in August 2024, and also reported that Graham, now aged 33, has been convicted of yet another attack on a woman – this time on a nurse while being treated at Glasgow Royal Infirmary in December 2023. The court heard he ran at a staff nurse, striking her body with his head and causing her to stumble to her injury. He was sentenced to another 136 days in prison after appearing at Glasgow sheriff court.

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay said: “Even though the SNP’s dangerous gender self-ID law was rightly blocked, this revelation adds to concerns about male sex criminals seeking to exploit the system. Previously, Findlay has called out the “mind-blowing incompetence” of the multi-agency teams supposedly protecting the public from Scotland’s 6,000 dangerous sexual predators. Karen Ingala Smith, whose Counting Dead Women work is a stark reminder of UK women killed by violent men, said: “We must question if the prison service is fit for purpose if someone like Jason Graham was left 100th on the waiting list for years and then freed without ever taking part in prison retraining. That is unacceptable.”

More information on the catalogue of failures of the various statutory agencies, including Police Scotland, Criminal Justice Social Work and the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), that should have been monitoring Graham is available here. Rhona Hotchkiss, the former prison governor commented “The review into the rape and murder of Esther Brown concluded that they could not have predicted this terrible tragedy. I challenge that. There is clear evidence Graham’s behaviour pattern was escalating before he killed Esther.”

Other examples of trans-identified males’ offending where alcohol was involved are available here, and further examples of offences committed while released on licence are here

See here for other trans-identified males who have committed strangulation offences, and here for trans-identified males who have assaulted healthcare professionals

A full list of murders committed by trans-identified males is available here

Image credit: Daily Record

Media reports

Daily Record https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/convicted-sex-offender-early-release-33484145 archive

Sunday Post https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/systems-mind-blowing-incompetence-left-sexual-predator-free-to-rape-and-kill/ archive

BBC ‘Anger’ over review of pensioner Esther Brown’s murder https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-65201044 archive

BBC ‘Esther Brown: Man jailed for 19 years for rape and murder of pensioner’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-59318586 archive

Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10224985/Woman-reveals-used-kitchen-knife-defend-convicted-killer-rapist-Jason-Graham.html archive

Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service press release https://www.copfs.gov.uk/about-copfs/news/man-jailed-for-murder-of-glasgow-woman-esther-brown/ archive