Trans murderer ‘sexually assaulted female inmate in prison’s hair salon’

A transgender murderer housed in a women’s prison has been charged with sexually assaulting a female inmate.

Alexandria Stewart – previously known as Alan Baker – is accused of attacking a woman in the hairdressing salon of the female-only wing of HMP Greenock.

Stewart has been held as a woman at the prison since 2016. The 38-year-old changed gender after being jailed in 2013 for the knife murder of dad-of-two John Weir.

The allegation, first reported by the Daily Record, has put renewed pressure on Scotland’s prison chiefs to rethink their “dangerous” policy of allowing biological men to be housed in women’s jails.

Under current guidelines, transgender women are allowed to be housed in female jails unless they pose an “unacceptable” risk of harm to fellow inmates – even if they have a history of violence against women.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has maintained the controversial approach despite the Supreme Court’s ruling on gender last year, in which judges unanimously ruled that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex, not acquired gender.

SNP ministers are in court fighting to keep the guidelines after campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) launched a legal challenge arguing the policy was “inconsistent” with the court’s judgment.

Susan Smith, an FWS director, said: “It has been a dangerous and stupid experiment to allow prisons to be mixed sex, and it’s having a severe impact on the human rights of the women in the prisons.

“Maybe now the prison service and the Scottish Government can wake up and realise that what they’ve been doing presents a clear and constant risk of state-sanctioned sexual assault – no matter what the outcome in this case it should sharpen minds to that reality.”

After the SPS notified police of the allegations against Stewart, it was reported that the inmate was segregated from other prisoners.

‘Full male physiology’

Prisoners in the all-female wing, however, are said to be furious that the SPS allows Stewart to live in the facility despite being biologically male.

One prison source told the Daily Record: “The presence of Alex Stewart has been a sickener for most women in the prison for years.

“Women have been forced to share shower blocks with this person, knowing they have full male physiology.

“He should never have been here – no trans prisoners should be with women.”

The SNP’s prisons’ policy has led to a string of scandals, most notably involving Isla Bryson, a double rapist who changed gender when he was accused of committing the crime.

Bryson was sent to a women’s prison when he was found guilty but transferred to a male-only facility after a public outcry.

SNP ministers say they are waiting to update their guidelines to Scotland’s public bodies until the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the UK-wide equalities watchdog, releases its own code of practice in accordance with last year’s landmark judgment. 

Bridget Phillipson, the women and equalities minister, has said she will publish the guidelines after the May 7 elections despite the EHRC submitting it to her last September.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “A 38-year-old prisoner has been arrested and charged in connection with a sexual assault within HMP Greenock.”