A transsexual man who harassed his neighbours for five years will not be jailed because a judge has agreed that prison would be “awkward and dangerous” for him.
Jan Krause, who lives as a woman, monitored his neighbours’ movements and even erected a roof-mounted device which emitted a high-pitched whine in the direction of his neighbours’ house, a court heard.
Krause’s defence lawyer argued prison would be a difficult place for his client to go. The judge agreed and suspended the 12-week jail term.
Smashed
It follows a similar case from last month of a transsexual who downloaded pornographic images of children but was spared jail because the judge said prison would be an “appalling experience” for him.
In the latest case the court heard how Krause had taken notes of neighbour Carol Story and her three children’s whereabouts after an argument over a noisy central heating system.
Krause had deliberately smashed into a family member’s car, noted shower times and logged when the house was empty. He would often stand outside his neighbour’s home, the court heard.
Krause had also called armed police to Miss Story’s house after he had seen people holding toy guns at a James Bond-themed party.
Evidence
Krause has denied doing anything wrong, which Judge Nicholas Sanders said was “disappointing” in the face of “very clear evidence”.
The judge said he had wanted to hand down a prison sentence but accepted Krause’s defense lawyer’s argument that it would be “awkward and dangerous” for him. The lawyer said it was unclear whether Krause would be sent to a male or female jail.
Suspending the prison sentence for 18 months, the judge placed a restraining order, a community service penalty, and an 18-week curfew on Krause.
Indecent
Miss Story said she wants to put the “ordeal” behind her.
Last month it was revealed that a 20-year-old man, who was formerly known as Luke but now goes by the name Laura Voyce, had been spared jail.
Voyce faced up to nine months in a male prison for 14 counts of downloading indecent images of children from the internet.
Deserved
Four of the images were ‘level four’, the second most serious level.
At Manchester Crown Court Judge Lesley Newton said she was satisfied Voyce had downloaded the images for “perverted sexual gratification”.
She also said: “Frankly, you deserve to go to prison, but I can’t bring myself to send you to prison, entirely because I think prison would be an appalling experience for you.”
Terrible
Children’s charity Kidscape criticised the ruling with Michelle Elliott, the group’s founder, saying: “It sends out entirely the wrong message that this transsexual’s feelings are more important than the emotions experienced by the children in these images who have gone through this terrible abuse.”
Critics of sex change operations say that gender dysphoria is a psychiatric problem, not a physical one, and radical physical surgery does more harm than good.
Many transsexuals regret their decision to live in the opposite sex. A Home Office report on transsexualism, released in April 2000, said: “Many people revert to their biological sex after living for some time in the opposite sex”.
