A trans activist who has served 30 years in jail for kidnap and attempted murder has been cleared of breaking the law by telling a crowd at a Pride rally to “punch terfs”.
Sarah Jane Baker was recalled to prison anyway for breaching his licence conditions.
The 54 year old will now be held at men’s prison HMP Wandsworth until a parole hearing, which may not take place until March.
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The Mail Online reports: It comes after she was yesterday cleared of encouraging assault while at the London Trans+ Pride march from Trafalgar Square to Wellington Arch in London on July 8.
A recording played of the march shows the activist shouting into microphone: ‘I was gonna come here and be really fluffy and be really nice and say be really lovely and queer and gay, nah if you see a terf, punch them in the f****** face’.
Trans campaigners use the acronym TERF as a derogatory term for people who do not align with their own views. It stands for ‘trans-exclusionary radical feminist’.
Baker was first jailed in 1989, aged 19, for kidnapping and torturing her stepmother’s 19-year-old brother.
She was later given a life sentence for the attempted murder of a fellow inmate while in prison – of which she served 30 years before her release in 2019, making her the UK’s longest-serving trans prisoner.
After appearing at the central London rally last month, Baker was reported to police and arrested at her home and taken to Charing Cross Police Station on July 12.
The defendant denied intentionally encouraging the commission of an offence, namely assault by beating. Baker accepted she said the words but denied intent.
She appeared at City of London Magistrates Court for trial on Thursday wearing a green top and red beret.
She told the court she believed her job at the protest was ‘to get on the front page of the papers’.
She added: ‘I believe my job was to get on the front page of the papers, my job is to get the public to know that transgender people exist.’
Baker insisted she was exercising her ‘freedom of expression’ when she gave the speech on behalf of the ‘Trans Prisoners Alliance’.
Prosecutor Kabir Sondhi told the court her speech on behalf of the group had been made to a crowd at Wellington Arch.
He said: ‘The words were clearly capable of encouraging members of the assembled crowd to go out and commit offences of battery against people, Ms Baker referred to as ‘TERFS’, by punching them or otherwise assaulting them.
“The prosecution say not only is [Mr.] Baker’s intention gleaned by [his] particular use of words in [his] speech but also [his] admissions and comments during [his] arrest later. The issue of the case seems to be one solely of intent.”
