Darren Rigby case: salient details left out of reporting

[AccordingToWhom]

Darren Rigby is a man who has been sentenced to 28 months in custody for sending hoax emails to three schools in Merseyside.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0e20ll9gz2o

https://www.merseyside.police.uk/news/merseyside/news/2026/june-2026/runcorn-man-sentenced-to-28-months-for-sending-hoax-emails-to-schools/

www.google.com/amp/s/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/man-21-sentenced-after-sending-34047071.amp

However, unless you read The Southport Lead, you would be unaware that:

• Rigby targeted girls' schools
• His reason was the supposed opression of transwomen

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=southport.thelead.uk/p/hoax-attacker-threatened-violent&ved=2ahUKEwj15JG1vO2UAxXEWUEAHdBjG6YQFnoECFwQAQ&usg=AOvVaw30Tek3HWFdsOeYvHGm54

You can support Nick Wallis directly rather than read via Murdoch

https://genderblog.net/rigby-rowling-and-a-bbc-news-correction/

Yes i think you are right. Only 5 of the protected characteristics are recognised as a hate crime in UK law from what I've read. Only these ones can count to tougher sentencing. No surprise that sex is not one of these. It bloody should be along with age too.

One could argue that by targeting children he WAS guilty of a hate crime: isn't age a protected characteristic?

Ah, no, I see it isn't; why not? It's not something anyone can decide to opt into or out of, whereas transgender identity is.

Funnily enough if, as has been asserted by pp, he was actually a secret terf pretending to be trans to make them look bad I'd argue the Judge would have taken that into account and the sentence would have been harsher because of the protected strand. He wasn't and the sentence reflects that.

Every single one of those girls will experience shit from men at some point in their lifetime. Ranging from discrimination and harassment through assault and abuse to worse.

At some point one of them will be having that "what was the first time?" conversation and they'll say "when my school went into lockdown because a man wanted to kill us all, because he wanted to force people to pretend he was a woman".

Edit to add: statistically it won't have been the first incident for many of the girls, sadly.

But yeah of course misogyny is not important enough to be factored in

Misogyny and ageism are too common for the system to deal with, they’re ‘normal’.

I am perfectly happy reading The Times, thanks! It has done much to promote the cause of women's sex based protections, and has highlighted the ongoing abuse that is child transition. It has a number of excellent journalists and columnists.

You do your thing, though!

Would it be under his victims protected beliefs? I'm sure targeting someone for religion has increased sentences before.

He was directly threatening women and girls, that's not a protected strand re. hate crimes. If he was doing it to indirectly libel transpipple by falsely claiming to be trans himself that might have fallen foul of the hate crime strand that protects them. Although ianal and it might be a bit of a stretch. Were they church schools? If they were and it was proved he targeted them because of that, then I wonder if the Judge missed a trick? You're right I think, religion is a protected strand.

Or rather his perception of their beliefs - ianal but I’m not sure it matters if any of them are actually GC or not.