Ketan/Chandi Shende
Ketan Shende (aka Chandi Shende), a male who identifies as a transgender woman, was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court in February 2023 of four counts of distributing indecent images of children, one of possession of indecent images and four of making indecent images.
Shende, 42, received a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years, and was told to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 25 days, as well as being told to sign the sex offenders’ register and being subjected to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
Police had seized Shende’s mobile phone in March 2022 on which they discovered 84 indecent images in category A – those graded as showing the most serious forms of abuse – including pictures and videos showing children aged as young as four being raped. Also found were 30 category B images and 35 in category C, which had been collected since October 2020. When police executed another search warrant in January 2023 following further intelligence, another indecent image of a child was found which Shende had, as previously, shared with other perverted men on the internet. Under interview, Shende denied having a “sexual interest in children, but enjoyed role playing and sending these images to other people”. The judge described the court as being right to be sceptical of that claim and continued: “The trade in child pornography is a disgusting and evil trade. It results in misery to the children who are victims, particularly where the purpose is the sexual gratification of deviant adults.”
Despite Shende more than likely not having a gender recognition certificate (the court heard of a history of depressive illness, alcohol/drug misuse, personality disorder and emotional trauma while seeking to transition from male to female), media reports referred to the offender as a ‘woman’ and used female pronouns throughout.
*Update March 2026*
Shende was convicted at Liverpool Magistrates Court in March 2026 of sexual assault and was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for two years – yet another example of the trans Get Out of Jail Free Card for a contact sexual offence.
Shende, aged 43 and from Liverpool, was also ordered to complete 25 days of rehabilitation activity and 150 hours of unpaid work and sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years. A two year restraining order was also issued, banning contact with the victim.
The offence was perpetrated in 2025 against a hotel worker who had agreed to to help carry some items into Shende’s room – Shende then sexually assaulted him by touching his penis over his clothes. The victim told the court of lasting trauma of the assault – he is now fearful walking down the street and has lost weight after finding it hard to eat and sleep.
The magistrate told Shende, ‘If you breach the suspended sentence order, you will go to prison, if you breach the sexual harm prevention order you will go to prison.
‘If you breach the unpaid work order you will go to prison. If you breach the community order you will go to prison.
‘If you breach the restraining order you will go to prison. There are so many ways you could go to prison.’
Image credit: Liverpool Echo
Media reports
Daily Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/03/trans-woman-groped-male-hotel-worker-gender-identity/ archive
Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15609129/Transgender-woman-groped-male-hotel-worker-spared-jail-prison.html archive
Liverpool Echo https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/woman-distributed-indecent-images-over-26190141 archive
Daily Express https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1732707/woman-indecent-images-children-spared-jail archive