Mental health nurse almost died when trans hospital patient tried to strangle her using a drawstring from his hoodie - as attacker is jailed for life for attempted murder

[birchtreeglow]

"...In Sutton's case, because he was born female but identified as a male and because he posed a risk of self-harm, she said his care plan originally stated that observations would be carried out by one male and one female nurse."

She said Sutton had complained about the presence of a male nurse when he changed or needed to use his en-suite bathroom, so the care plan was altered to allow the male nurse to step out of his bedroom.

A judge heard Sutton had pretended to need the toilet to get mother-of-three Mrs Afzal alone before wrapping the cord around her neck and tightening his grip. He was given a life sentence with a minimum 13 year term on Thursday, May 23, after being found guilty of attempted murder at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

The court heard Sutton had a shocking previous record of violently attacking nurses, hospital patients and members of the public over a 10 year period – something Mrs Afzal said she only found out about when she heard it while sat in the public gallery during the sentencing hearing.

Sutton had committed 46 counts of actual or threatened violence and over half were carried out on members of healthcare staff.

But Mrs Afzal, from Walsall, yesterday said she would have 'refused to have gone in that room alone' if she knew about Sutton's previous attacks on staff.
'This has scarred me for life', she said. 'He was a dangerous person from day one, but nobody told me 'We were told he had a personality disorder but nothing about how dangerous he was.'..."

I think many people are not aware that the Dhejne long-term follow-up study of transsexuals found that female to male transsexuals showed higher criminal offending rates than females. Offending rates corresponded to male offending patterns actually.

To me, this is not completely unexpected. We know testosterone increases aggression. Also, just observing the physical appearance of committed transmen (not the recent ROGD cohort), they sometimes cultivate a hyper-masculine appearance. It’s like they are trying (too hard IMO) to convince the world that they really are men. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same kind of attitude reflected in their behaviour.

*I think many people are not aware that the Dhejne long-term follow-up study of transsexuals found that female to male transsexuals showed higher criminal offending rates than females. Offending rates corresponded to male offending patterns actually.

To me, this is not completely unexpected. We know testosterone increases aggression. Also, just observing the physical appearance of committed transmen (not the recent ROGD cohort), they sometimes cultivate a hyper-masculine appearance. It’s like they are trying (too hard IMO) to convince the world that they really are men. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same kind of attitude reflected in their behaviour.*

If that's true, it's even more interesting how it doesn't seem to be the same the other way round. Male trans people retain male levels and patterns of offending. Is that maybe because it's hard for testosterone to leave the body? But if the other factor is true (trying to seem hyper-masculine by being aggressive) then you would expect transwomen to also show at least some of a similar effect, but they don't.

i agree, if we were going by biological sex they would have provided 2 female staff from the off ( so actually staff safety was improved by allowing 1 male, 1 female to be present)…. the very moment the care plan was changed to allow only 1 staff member to be present was the breach of the risk assessment . The fact that the member of staff only heard about the long history of assaults on staff when she attended court also indicates the trusts failings. Certain individuals with certain diagnoses who are long term within the mental system are well known to be highly manipulative and try to swing situations in their favour so the managers should have been fully aware of the need to brief their staff and maintain staff safety .

MrsWhattery
If that's true, it's even more interesting how it doesn't seem to be the same the other way round. Male trans people retain male levels and patterns of offending. Is that maybe because it's hard for testosterone to leave the body? But if the other factor is true (trying to seem hyper-masculine by being aggressive) then you would expect transwomen to also show at least some of a similar effect, but they don't.

In general males who transition have different motivations from females. There is a small cohort of males with gender dysphoria from childhood who are similar to the females but the vast majority of males have tended to transition from middle age.

This group are mostly sexually motivated. They have fixed male ideas of what it is like to be a woman and they want to live that fantasy. They tend not to want to blend in and live the life of an real unremarkable woman.

I think that due to the widespread availability of niche internet porn younger males are being drawn into this world and the lower stigma now attached to being trans means more males coming out as trans as teenagers and young adults but with similar motivations.

Do you have a link for this? Thanks

It does raise an interesting question. I’ve always thought transmen should be recognised as female sex. However, if testosterone increases their strength and violence to male levels, then clearly dangerous transmen can’t be safely managed using female protocols. Not sure how this is best addressed.

In any case, all risk assessments should include staff and other ‘service users’ and members of the public, as well as the individual subject. This change should be applied immediately

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885&type=printable

I would diffentiate between long-term transmen and young females who have been caught up in the Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria phenomenon. The latter group is a relatively recent phenomenon and we are still learning about them.

They have fixed male ideas of what it is like to be a woman and they want to live that fantasy. They tend not to want to blend in and live the life of an real unremarkable woman.

Yes that's definitely true, but a sexist male idea of what women are like tends to include women being weaker and "girlier", less aggressive, more easily upset etc. Hence the TW you see performing being unable to open jars, being scared of spiders etc. and saying it's because of the estrogen. So you would think that they would want to try to emulate less aggressive behaviour, even if that was motivated by misogyny and fetish.

I know that's not what generally happens, just pondering the differences.

Exactly what I thought, @NitroNine. It does seem clear that this person used their trans status to get their victim alone in the bathroom, but this could have been easily avoided if the nurse she attacked had known about the previous violence, and if two nurses had been present.

It is interesting that the attacker knew the gender of the male nurse, and was allowed to discriminate against them in such a bigoted fashion, when an actual female woman would not be allowed to request that intimate care be provided only by other biological females. Such a person would be excoriated for assuming the gender of their nurses!

In response to the trans ‘theory’ comments. The risks were known, this person had previous, regardless of their transition. Male and female patients ask all the time for specific gendered staff, regardless of being trans. People working in psychiatric wards and in the community face daily risk from patients, that’s why there are individual risk assessments. Nothing predicts risk like the past. Sadly in this case, the risks were there but not shared, not care planned for, no contingency and if there was a plan, it wasn’t adhered to. There could be a number of reasons why all the above happened, and I’m sure as shit it wasn’t to do with the person being trans. In an high risk environment and profession, it’s about risk management…. Not gender identity.

Male trans people retain male levels and patterns of offending. Is that maybe because it's hard for testosterone to leave the body?

The question of testosterone in MtF transitioners is complex.

In the first instance, the drugs they use to reduce testosterone have very varied effects. There are a large percentage of MtF transitioners who retain M levels of testosterone, despite the drugs.

In addition, the effects of removing testosterone are complicated. In addition to masculinisation, testosterone is thought to have a more general effect on confidence and well-being.

I’m a vet, not a doctor, but it is well established that before castrating male dogs for aggression, they should be tested using chemical drugs that reduce testosterone before committing to surgery.

That is because male dogs that are aggressive due to fear can become more aggressive, rather than less, following castration. I have often wondered whether a similar effect can occur in insecure men. There are certainly some very aggressive MtF transitioners and I had wondered if it was a factor.

@PriOn1

I think there’s been discussion of an incel-to-trans pipeline, which would account for lots of insecure & aggressive TW even without any potential impact of testosterone suppression. Should there be a parallel impact to that seen in dogs, it would indeed explain a lot - plus of course “trans” now includes the sort of aggressive men who are used to holding positions of power & used to just cross-dress in private but now bring their whole late-transitioning selves to their high-powered jobs in banking/politics etc.