Trans man jailed in women’s prison after threatening to kill his ex with a kitchen knife
Interior of Reading Gaol (Dan Kitwood/Getty)
A trans man described by British authorities as “out of control” has been locked up in a women’s prison for 21 months.
Jay Lee Layton, 25, entered his ex-partner’s house in Spennymoor, County Durham, at 8pm on April 6 and threatened to stab her, breaching a civil order in the process.
His partner refused to let him in as he bellowed from the garden, so he then slipped inside through an open window, grabbed a kitchen knife and refused to leave the premises, Metro.co.uk reported, even as his ex-partner’s child cried in the background.
Trans man ‘lost all control’ as he threatened the life of his ex and child.
Law enforcement arrived at the scene and, in resisting arrest, Layton kicked an officer in the stomach, prosecutors told Durham Crown Court Layton.
Prosecutor Joe Hedworth told courts that Layton, of Brandon, arrived at the residence of his former flame and begged to be let in from the garden. He then began, Hedworth said, hysterically crying.
As her young child was asleep, the woman urged Layton to quieten down. She then offered to grab him a coat but, while doing so, Layton slipped through an open window.
Layton threatened to kill her, harm her child and die by suicide after she said she would ring the police.
He then grabbed a kicthen knife and held it above his head, dragging her into the garden and locking her outside.
She described Layton as “unpredictable” in her victim statement to police, and noted that he had plunged her into a state of constant fear since their break-up.
His rap sheet of two past convictions for battery was described by mitigator Nicholas Askins as “short”.
Ultimately, judge James Adkin said Layton “lost all control that evening” and urged Layton to understand that his partner “wants you out of her life”.
He handed down a 21 monthslong prison sentence as well as a ten-year restraining order stonewalling layton from contacting his ex-partner. Layton was jailed in Low Newton Women’s Prison in “solitary confinement”.
Government figures released November 2019 revealed that just one-tenth of trans inmates are housed in the correct facility for their gender.
