Nicola Sturgeon grilled in tense clash over Isla Bryson

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Nicola Sturgeon has slipped up by referring to Isla Bryson as “her” after staying tight-lipped for several days over whether she regarded the transgender rapist as male or female. When responding to questions about the issue during a Scottish Government press conference, the First Minister referred to “her” before quickly changing her answer to “the person.” The SNP leader was challenged over the “Freudian slip”, and whether she regarded Bryson as female, before replying: “She regards herself a woman, I regard the individual as a rapist.”

Ms Sturgeon, who has been under huge pressure over her silence on the issue, continued to insist the “relevant factor” in deciding where Bryson is imprisoned is the sex offender’s two rape convictions and not gender.

She has repeatedly refused to say whether Bryson is male or female and has instead referred to the rapist as the “individual” – despite continuing to defend her Government’s self-identification reforms.

During First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood last Thursday, the SNP leader insisted she “does not have enough information” to make a decision despite agreeing that the double rapist was “almost certainly” only claiming to be transgender as an “easy way out”.

During the press conference, Ms Sturgeon said her Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which would enable people born or resident in Scotland aged over 16 to change their legal sex by signing a statutory declaration, would strengthen the law.

She said: “My comments about her, the person being a rapist, is in the context of what should happen to them in the prison service.

“This is a debate about whether this individual should be in a male or female prison and, in my view, what matters there is the nature of the crime and the degree of risk that on the basis of an assessment it is considered that the individual poses.”

Ms Sturgeon was quickly pressed about whether her description of Bryson as “her” meant she considered the rapist to be a woman.

The First Minister hit back: “Don’t read anything into … what I’m trying to do is address the issues rather than take it into … headline-generating. I’m trying to rationally deal with the issues that arise here, and that’s what I’ll continue to try to do.”

But the SNP leader came under further pressure to make clear why she had referred to Bryson as her, to which Ms Sturgeon replied: “I can’t remember. What I’m saying is, Isla Bryson calls herself a woman.

“What I’m trying to say is, in the context of the prison service, that is not the relevant factor here. The relevant factor is the crime that the individual has committed and has been convicted of.”

Asked again, Ms Sturgeon responded: “She regards herself as a woman. I regard the individual as a rapist. What matters is the individual was convicted of rape, and that is what we’re talking about here, and that is what I will continue to focus on.”

But the apparent slip-up from the First Minister has raised more questions about how her hotly-contested plans to enable people to self-identify their legal gender are consistent with Bryson being imprisoned in a male jail.

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Scottish Conservative shadow equalities spokesperson Rachael Hamilton MSP, said: “Nicola Sturgeon has betrayed her true feelings by referring to a double rapist as she.

“It was a telling slip but hardly a surprising one given how the First Minister has tied herself in knots over this issue and repeatedly U-turned.

“Last week Nicola Sturgeon refused to say whether she considered a double rapist to be a man or a woman, despite her justice secretary happily accepting Adam Graham was female the previous day.

“After once again dodging this simple question, she let slip her true position – one which the vast majority of the public will be dismayed at. Her whole self-id policy has turned into a mess entirely of her own making.

“By following the SNP’s current policy, Nicola Sturgeon has to believe Adam Graham is a woman – because he says he is – no matter how absurd that notion is. It is also a total insult to his victims and puts women’s safety at risk, once he is out of prison.”

Scottish court bosses had wanted to send the rapist to all-men Barlinnie prison in Glasgow but Bryson was initially sent to Cornton Vale women’s jail in Stirling after being convicted last month.

Guidance from the Scottish Prison Service says trans criminals should be sent to the prison that matches the self-identified gender they were living in prior to their conviction.

Bryson was named as Adam Graham when committing the rapes and has not legally changed gender and the rapist was moved to a men’s cell in Edinburgh’s Saughton jail.

The rapist is taking hormones and is looking to undergo surgery to finalist the gender reassignment, but Bryson only began to transition after appearing in court on rape charges.

Despite the uproar surrounding the issue, Ms Sturgeon plans to go to court to overturn a recent veto from the UK Government on the Bill after the Scottish Secretary blocked the legislation over fears it undermines UK-wide protections for women.

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