A trans-identified male has been sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of the horrific rape of a vulnerable woman. Lexi-Rose Crawford, 24, committed the heinous crime just weeks after being released from prison for the rape of a teenage girl.
Crawford was found guilty at Bristol Crown Court on March 10, despite initially claiming to have been suffering from “blackouts” resulting in an inability to recall the assaults. Though Crawford feigned ignorance to his own crimes, a jury found him guilty of rape and sexual assault after less than two hours of deliberations.
Crawford’s victim cannot be named for legal reasons, but is known to be particularly vulnerable. She told the court that Crawford came to her home in April of 2019 to play computer games. Describing the attack, the victim shared that Crawford had attempted to have her lay next to him before forcing himself on her.
“[Crawford] wanted me to lie down next to [him] and then tried to start… cuddling me, which I don’t feel comfortable with anyway. And then [he] started removing my clothes, which I didn’t want,” the victim said in court.
Despite her repeated protests, Crawford removed the victim’s clothing and raped her. When asked why she didn’t fight back more aggressively, she said: “What could I have done without using physical contact to stop [him]? And then that could have been me in the wrong by using physical contact to stop [him].”
Lashing back at Crawford’s claim that he suffered from a lapse of memory, Prosecutor David Scutt pointed out that he had no medical basis to support the plea, and described it as a “convenient excuse.”
Following the guilty verdict in March, Crawford was released on conditional bail, appearing in Bristol Crown Court again today to receive his sentence.
But, disturbingly, this was not Crawford’s first time being convicted of a grisly sexual attack on a vulnerable victim.
In 2017, Crawford was jailed after raping a teen girl he had met on the internet and groomed into his trust. At the time, Crawford was 18 and his victim was a 15-year-old girl. After developing a relationship, Crawford took the girl to a secluded area in the woods. Just before he assaulted her, he told the girl: “You are going to get laid.”
Following his release from prison in 2019, Crawford began using a female name and feminine pronouns. Just weeks later, he committed his latest sexual attack.
Crawford was sentenced to nine years for the rape charge and six and half years for the sexual assault that would run concurrently.
Addressing Crawford during the hearing, Judge Michael Longman described the acts as shocking when handing down the sentence.
“Given your previous record of offending, these convictions are particularly serious, given that the victim was your friend and a friend you knew to be vulnerable herself,” Judge Longman said. “You were a guest in her home at the time. That is also especially shocking and the sense of betrayal is perfectly understandable.”
Crawford will serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody before being released on license. He will be on the sex offenders register indefinitely, and will have a restraining order preventing him from getting close to his victim.
Media reports on Crawford’s trial and sentencing referred to him using “she/her” pronouns. Disturbingly, the formal indictment used in court referred to Crawford’s genitalia as “her penis,” according to The Daily Mail.
In lieu of a recent policy change regarding gender self-identification in UK prisons, Crawford will be sent to a men’s prison to serve his sentence.
On February 27, the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service announced new guidance for housing male prisoners who claim to identify as women. The updated framework states that “transgender women offenders no longer housed in women’s prisons if they have male genitalia or have committed sex crimes.”
The decision was made after ongoing controversy surrounding male sex offenders identifying as “women” and then demanding transfer into the female prison estate. In the month of January, four male sexual predators made headlines after identifying as women and either requesting transfer to a women’s prison or being granted a move. The most notable case involved Adam Graham, 31, who began claiming to be a woman called Isla Bryson after he was charged with raping two women. Like Crawford, Graham was referred to with feminine pronouns both in the court and in UK media coverage, and court documents had charged Graham with raping the women with “her penis.”
Graham was found guilty of rape in both cases, and was initially green-lit to be held in a women’s prison for up to a month while awaiting sentencing. But the approval was short-lived after the incident sparked international outcry that led to the involvement of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Sturgeon was ridiculed by critics and journalists for her refusal to call Graham a man, and, in February, announced that she would be resigning from her post. Sturgeon will remain as First Minister until a successor has been elected.
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