Karen White case

Karen White, originally from the Manchester area in England, is a rapist who later identified as a woman. The case attracted national attention after White was remanded to a women's prison, following a knife attack on a neighbour, and was accused of committing four sexual assaults against female prisoners within a 3 month period. White was then moved to an all-male prison in Leeds, while police investigated.^[1]

The case was raised in Parliament and led to a change in government policy on managing transgender prisoners.

Background

White was born in 1965/66, assigned male and as a young man committed a number of offences: indecent assault, indecent exposure and gross indecency involving children, violence and dishonesty.^[2] Then, in August 2017, after being arrested for a knife attack on a 66-year-old neighbour in Mytholmroyd, White was remanded to HM Prison New Hall. White then self-identified as female and began transitioning while at New Hall, wearing a wig, make-up and fake breasts.^[3]

Two rape charges surfaced after White wrote to one of the victims from prison. The first charge was from a woman who said she had been violently raped multiple times in 2016, after they met at a psychiatric unit in West Yorkshire. The second was from 2003, where White was accused of spiking a woman's drink and raping her. Though arrested at the time, White was ultimately not prosecuted.^[4]

Sexual assaults while on remand

White began gender re-alignment - wearing a wig, make-up and false breasts - while at New Hall and became friendly with a female inmate until an incident in a queue during which the complainant felt something hard press against the small of her back. When she turned around, she saw White's erect penis.^[5]

Trial

In October 2018, White pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to two counts of rape, one offence of wounding and two sexual assaults while on remand for previous offences. In passing a sentence of life with a minimum term of 9 and a half years before parole could be considered, Judge Christopher Batty told the defendant: “You are a predator and highly manipulative and in my view you are a danger. You represent a significant risk of serious harm to children, to women and to the general public.”^[6]

Aftermath and impact

The Karen White case was raised in Parliament in February 2019 in an oral question and Edward Argar, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, answered to explain that as a result of the case, the Government was reviewing policy and its application.^[7] Thereafter, the Ministry of Justice created a special unit for transgender inmates. A spokesperson said, "Prisoner safety is our biggest concern and any decisions we take will seek to best manage the risks posed by each offender. The wider management of transgender offenders is a highly sensitive issue which poses unique and complex challenges... That's why we are reviewing the way we manage all transgender offenders."^[8]

The facts of White's offending have been subject to academic and political commentary. Dr Sarah Lamble, Reader in Criminology and Queer Theory at Birkbeck, University of London, has argued that the White case received particular media attention owing to its part in wider anti-transgender discourse. ^[9]

In 2023, White wrote a letter to a women's rights activist stating that trans women should be kept out of female prisons.^[10]

See also

• Isla Bryson case, Scottish rapist who later self-identified as female and was initially placed in women's prison
• Tiffany Scott (prisoner), Scottish sex offender who later self-identified as female and tried to be moved to a women's prison
• Amber McLaughlin, an American sex offender, rapist and murderer who later self-identified as female while incarcerated, becoming the first transgender person to be executed in the USA