The estranged wife of transgender sex attacker Isla Bryson has dismissed the double rapist’s eight-year sentence as ‘nowhere near enough’.
Bryson was jailed at Edinburgh High Court on Tuesday for the rape of a woman in Clydebank in 2016 and a second victim in Drumchapel three years later – while still a man known as Adam Graham.
Shonna Graham, 31, says the ordeal of Bryson’s two victims had been overshadowed by the controversy over the prisoner’s gender transition.
She told MailOnline: ‘He – and I will always call him a he – will be out of prison in four years, but his two victims will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.
‘It’s an insult to them that their whole ordeal has hardly been discussed and it’s all been about him, and what kind of prison should he go to.
Shonna Graham, 31, says the ordeal of Bryson’s two victims had been overshadowed by the controversy over the prisoner’s gender transition
Isla Bryson leaves Edinburgh High Court in a prison van after being sentenced to eight years in jail today
‘They are the ones who are suffering and all he’s done is pull a stroke to try and get himself a softer sentence.
‘I’m glad they finally saw sense and put him in a man’s prison and I hope he has a hard time there – he deserves it after what he’s done.’
Shonna said she thought 15 years would have been a more suitable sentence for the double rapist, but she did welcome Lord Scott’s words when he told Bryson: ‘You see yourself as the victim in this case. You are not.’
But she added: ‘The judge was on the right lines, but to my mind he failed to follow through because eight years – as he’ll get out in half the time – does not reflect the seriousness of his crimes.
‘That will mean the victims’ trauma will all come back far too quickly and it doesn’t give them a chance to heal.’
Bryson, 31, was sentenced to eight years in prison, with a further three years on licence.
Photos outside court on Tuesday show the double rapist – who changed gender while waiting to stand trial – hiding behind a blonde bob and pink hooded jumper inside a prison van after being told by Lord Scott: ‘It is plain that you present a particularly significant risk to any woman with whom you form a relationship.’
Bryson, who committed the two rapes while still a man known as Adam Graham, met the victims online and prosecutors said the criminal ‘preyed’ on vulnerable women.
The case sparked an uproar after Bryson was initially housed in an all-female prison. In the wake of this outcry, the criminal was moved to the male estate.
Scotland’s Justice Secretary Keith Brown ordered an urgent review of the case and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) stopped the movement of all transgender prisoners with a history of violence against women into the female estate.
Shonna said she thought 15 years would have been a more suitable sentence for the double rapist, but she did welcome Lord Scott’s words
It came just weeks after the devolved Scottish Parliament passed a Bill to make it easier for people to change their legal gender, drawing criticism from women’s rights campaigners who argue predatory men could use it to access single-sex spaces such as bathrooms.
The Government in Westminster has since said it will block the change because it would have an impact on equality matters across the rest of the country.
The issue also came to a head shortly before Nicola Sturgeon said she would step down as Scottish First Minister after almost a decade in power, saying she had become too divisive.
During sentencing today, Lord Scott noted Bryson continues to ‘vehemently deny’ the offences, claiming the victims ‘colluded’ to press charges.
The court heard the rapist, who appeared in court wearing a blonde wig, black leggings and fluorescent pink jacket, is still pursuing full gender reassignment and is on ‘the maximum recommended doses of hormone prescription’ from Glasgow’s Sandyford sexual health service clinic.
Defence advocate Edward Targowski KC said this, coupled with ‘troubled early years’, made Bryson vulnerable.
Bryson, 31, was convicted last month of raping two women, pictured outside court for a previous hearing
Undated handout file photo issued by Police Scotland of Isla Bryson, formerly known as Adam Graham
He told the court the criminal’s move to transition following both rapes was not ‘an afterthought cynically designed to reduce the punishment’, contrary to what he described as ‘ill-informed and ill-judged comments’ made outside of the court.
But Lord Scott said the seriousness of the crimes ‘far outweigh’ Bryson’s mitigatory circumstances.
He acknowledged Bryson is considered ‘vulnerable in some ways’ due to adverse childhood experiences, but said: ‘You see yourself as the victim in this situation. You are not.
‘Your vulnerability is no excuse at all for what you did to these two women.
‘You raped two women who can both be regarded as vulnerable.’
