Predatory woman who incited man to abuse child, 4 jailed

Check the Tameside Reporter newspaper which correctly reported O’Brien as transgender and called out the police on referring to him as female

That response is so passive-aggressive ('maintaining', 'sorry if you did not appreciate...'), that I suspect the person who drafted it of deliberately winding you up.

I got the same response, I’ve forwarded it on to Sex Matters for their files

Got exactly the same response to my complaint about an hour ago. The "had previously been a man" section in the response especially grated.

I had the same response. Pretty much what I expected but still nonsensical to see it written out.

This person is male. They were male, are male and will remain male. Nothing about them is female. They may claim a female "identity" whatever the fuck that is, but that doesn't make it true.

I fully expect that GMP have recorded this crime as one committed by a female. Ridiculous.

Journalism effort : zero.

Finally got a response from the BBC - as expected they have relied on GMP press release and court reporting plus the defendants preferred terms.

Thank you for getting in touch about our coverage of the sentencing of Naomi O'Brien, described by a Greater Manchester Police detective inspector as ‘a predatory woman’. We reported: “The 31-year-old was convicted of five offences and jailed for four years and three months at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.”

Some readers objected to us describing her as a woman, maintaining she was transgender and had previously been a man.

Our reporting was based on the court proceedings and a press release issued by Greater Manchester Police in which they describe Naomi O’Brien as a female. We checked with them and they told us that “she identifies as a woman”. They used female pronouns and we reported accordingly.

BBC News editorial practice is to refer to trans people as they refer to themselves. In our reporting we use the term and pronoun used by the person in question, as we did here. Greater Manchester police followed the same style.

We are sorry if you did not appreciate the way we covered this particular case but would like to thank you again for contacting us to make your views known. All feedback from readers is appreciated and shared with senior editors so that they are aware of audience concerns.

I’ve had it, too. Nothing at all from the police, meanwhile.

I got the same reply as well. Following on this thread to see if anyone has advice for next steps once the two weeks is up.

I have the exact same message for a different (gender identity related) complaint.
I'm wondering what would be an acceptable timeframe before I can progress this through Ofcom. If you look at the Ofcom submission information it says that complaints need to be raised with the BBC first. But there must be a cut-off where it is considered unreasonable to be waiting in a holding pattern. Otherwise they need never reply to anything.

Got the exact same message too.

Yeah I got the same message from them too

It's just more gaslighting from the BBC though isn't it? Keep holding the complaints off until the news story naturally fades into the background.

I haven't even received a message like this. Silence from them and Manchester Evening News (aka MEN)who were displaying an almost identically worded article.

@Hoardasurass I did wonder if they wanted it in their 2024 stats or if they were getting legal advice. If, as has obviously been pointed out by more than one person, the judgement applies and legal sex requires a GRC there are wider implications for factual reporting.

It may be that whilst we don’t like the judgement, it does mean anyone without a GRC can’t legally use opposite sex words to describe themselves or facilities.

Me too. I also pointed out that since they were clearly just looking for a click bate title that "predatory" transwomen, would not only been much more accurate it would have generated far more clicks.
The BBC is playing silly buggers with the complaints by kicking them into the long grass and now won't respond until the new year due to the Xmas holidays (the 2 weeks they had ends on Xmas eve) and all this time their lies remains up for everyone to see🤬

I think I pointed out that as per the recent judgment if they don’t hold a GRC their sex is legally male/man. So using woman and female is legally and factually incorrect.

Just checked. I'm in a holding pattern too.

Looks like a mass mailing out to those who complained. I wonder how many complaints the received

This is an update from the BBC Complaints team.

We wanted to let you know that we have referred your complaint to the relevant people and are still looking into it. We regret that it may take a little bit longer before we can reply. Please wait to hear from us before you contact us any further – we appreciate your patience.

Although we reply to most complaints within 2 weeks we cannot achieve this every time. It depends on what your complaint was about and how many others we are handling, or may sometimes be due to issues outside of our control. Sometimes it can take a while to hear back from the key people involved, but we often find the wait is worth it.

Please don’t reply to this email because it’s sent from an account which can’t receive replies. If you do need to get in touch, please use our webform instead at www.bbc.co.uk/complaints, quoting your reference number.

^For full details of our complaints process please visit: www.bbc.co.uk/contact/how-we-handle-your-complaint.^

Thank you for contacting us - we hope to be in touch soon.

Kind regards

BBC Complaints Team

I got the same holding message from the BBC.

Got a reply of sorts from thf BBC

The most pertinaceous paragraph, IMO, is:

"We wanted to let you know that we have referred your complaint to the relevant people and are still looking into it. We regret that it may take a little bit longer before we can reply. Please wait to hear from us before you contact us any further – we appreciate your patience."

Who are the "relevant people"? Those who wrote and/or approved the story? The body whose press release the Beeb more or less copied anc pasted?

Is the BBC just flapping about trying to find a form of words that won't annoy someone?

I got a non reply from GMP.

Nothing from MEN but perhaps they published a correction and clarification.

Nothing from BBC but it will be usual non reply when it comes

Yes, @megletthesecond, I'm reflecting on when would be reasonable to pester! BBC & GMP will be inundated, I'm sure - but, meanwhile, these misleading reports & quotes still stand, during the period in which they're being read most...

Nothing here. If I don't hear anything soon I'll follow up my complaints and give them a (polite) kick up the backside.

Not a peep here either.