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Transgender rapist should not be considered a woman, says victim

Isla Bryson - POLICE SCOTLAND
Isla Bryson - POLICE SCOTLAND

The first victim of Isla Bryson, and the mother of one of his children, say it is "impossible" not to say the transgender rapist is a man and should not have been allowed in a women's prison.

Bryson was named Adam Graham when committing the crimes and only started to transition after appearing in court on rape charges.

There was uproar last week when the rapist was sent to Cornton Vale women's prison after being convicted, with prison bosses overruling the courts service, which wanted to send Bryson to the all-male Barlinnie prison in Glasgow.

Nicola Sturgeon was forced to announce a humiliating about-turn, with the rapist moved to a male prison, despite the First Minister's support for allowing people to self-identify their gender. Ms Sturgeon refused to say whether she considered Bryson to be a man or a woman.

Bryson was in a relationship with his first victim and lived with her and her mother before their relationship ended when he raped her in her bed in September 2016.

Concern for female prisoners

The victim told the Sunday Mail that her first thought about hearing of her attacker's transfer to Cornton Vale was: "What about the ladies in there?"

Her mother, who refused to refer to Bryson using female pronouns, said her daughter thought it "impossible" the 31-year-old was transgender and added: "She can't believe it's the same person."

The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had "every support" for transgender people but said: "He's very manipulative and everybody falls for it. It's an easy way out. I don't believe a word he says."

Isla Bryson - PA
Isla Bryson - PA

A former girlfriend and mother of one of his three children accused Nicola Sturgeon and Scotland's justice system of allowing themselves to be "manipulated by a liar".

The woman, who disclosed that Bryson is the father of her five-year-old child, told the Scottish Mail on Sunday: "I think it was shocking to put Bryson in a women's prison in the first place.

"The man I know as Adam is manipulative when it comes to women and a very real danger to anyone in a vulnerable state, which many female prisoners are in there.

"It could have had terrible consequences. It's a pity it was only after public pressure that Nicola Sturgeon saw sense. Adam needs to be in a male prison, whatever he says he is."

She said she was one of the first people her former partner told "when he decided to transition to a woman and I definitely think it was driven by the fact that he was facing two rape charges as a man".

They had a "healthy sex life" when they were together, she said, and "he never once said he wanted to be a woman." She added: "It's just one big con."

Transition 'a sham'

The couple met on a dating website in early 2017 following the breakdown of Bryson's marriage to Shonna Graham, who last week mocked the rapist's move to become a woman and described it as a "sham" to get an easier time in prison.

She ended their relationship after discovering Bryson was having flings with other women behind her back.

But she got a phone call from Bryson out of the blue three years ago stating that he had decided to have a "sex change" because he wanted to be a woman. He did not mention he was going on trial for two rapes in Clydesdale and Glasgow in 2016 and 2019.

"I nearly fell over laughing and said something like 'have you gone mad?", the former girlfriend said.

"But he told me to stop laughing at him and that he now wanted to be called Annie - later changed to Isla - and that he was serious."