Transgender rapist Isla Bryson will serve sentence at notorious men's prison which houses murders and paedophiles
28 February 2023, 10:27 | Updated: 28 February 2023, 23:57
Transgender rapist Isla Bryson has been sent to a notorious men's prison after being sentenced to eight years in prison for the rape of two women before transitioning.
Bryson, 31, was convicted last month of raping two women - one in Clydebank in 2016 and one in Drumchapel, Glasgow, in 2019.
She committed the offences while still a man known as Adam Graham.
The double rapist met both the victims online, with prosecutors saying the 31-year-old "preyed" on vulnerable women.
Bryson denied the charges, telling the court she "would never hurt another human being".
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She will serve the sentence at HMP Edinburgh, which holds around 900 prisoners per day.
The jail, which is also known as Saughton Prison, was for many years the home of serial killer and paedophile Peter Tobin.
Among the prison's other high-profile inmates is Limbs in the Loch killer William Beggs, who serving a life sentence at the prison for raping, murdering and dismembering teenager Barry Wallace in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, in 1999.
Bryson's case sparked a furious backlash after the Scottish Prison Service initially housed her in segregation at Corton Vale, Scotland's sole all-female prison.
Scottish Justice Secretary Keith Brown ordered an urgent review of the case and the Scottish Prison Service took the decision to halt the movement of all transgender prisoners with a history of violence against women into the female estate.
The 31-year-old first appeared in court as Adam Graham in 2019 and was later named in court papers the following year - around the time of the decision to transition - as Isla Annie Bryson, formerly known as Adam Graham.
Trans women who have male genitalia or have committed sexual offences were already banned from female prisons, in legislation that will take effect this week.
Now Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said that he has updated the policy to include all trans women convicted of violent offences in the ban.
During the trial, the High Court in Glasgow heard Bryson was going through the breakdown of a brief, unhappy marriage and went to stay with the first victim at her mother's house in Clydebank in 2016.
Giving evidence on pre-recorded video, the victim, 30, said she was raped for half-an-hour.
"All I said was 'no' over and over and over again," she said.
"At the time I was so scared. Sick to the stomach. I just didn't know what was going on."
Trans woman brands Isla Bryson an 'abhorrent, horrible creature'
The second victim, who gave evidence via live video-link, told the court Bryson continued to have sex with her after she said stop.
The court heard Bryson entered the victim with "her penis", and was told to stop because Bryson was "crushing" the victim. The victim's police statement said Bryson instead told her to "stay there" because "he (Bryson) wasn't finished".
The victim told the court: "I said to stop but he (Bryson) just kept on going, and that's when I just closed my eyes and I am doing what he wanted to do."
