PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: A transgender pedophile has managed to avoid prison twice despite violating the initial terms of his release because he is transgender.
👥 Who’s Involved: Convicted pedophile Peter Selby, Judge Robert Adams.
📍 Where & When: Selby was initially convicted for child abuse material in 2022, was arrested for violating the terms of his release in 2023, and was let go yet again on June 3.
💬 Key Quote: Selby would “undoubtedly be at risk of physical or sexual assault in custody because of [his] presentation in a male prison,” claimed Judge Adams.
⚠️ Impact: The case is just the latest to see a transgender pedophile avoid prison in England, while people who posted “hate” on social media remain behind bars.
IN FULL:
A convicted pedophile has managed to escape imprisonment twice despite possessing over 125,000 child sex abuse images and videos and breaching a sexual harm prevention order, because of his transgender identity. A British judge initially convicted 71-year-old Peter Selby in 2022, sentencing him to just 14 months in prison, despite the maximum sentence being up to 10 years, suspended for two years.
According to the judge in the case, Selby risked harm behind bars and would be safer living in his local community with some restrictions placed on his behaviour. Selby was placed on the sex offenders register, according to the news website Reduxx, and was restricted from downloading VPN software, which could hide his Internet usage. These restrictions were to last at least 10 years.
However, just months later, in 2023, Selby was visited by local police, who found that he had already violated the restrictions placed on him as a condition for his release by downloading VPN software. During an appearance at Newcastle Crown Court on June 3, Selby claimed to have been unaware of downloading the software.
While the police found no additional child sex abuse material (CSAM), the downloading of the VPN was a clear breach of the terms of his release. Judge Robert Adams acknowledged that Selby had violated the agreement, saying it was in place to make it more difficult for Selby to re-offend.
Judge Adams did not activate Selby’s suspended sentence and put him in prison, however, saying that Selby would “undoubtedly be at risk of physical or sexual assault in custody because of [his] presentation in a male prison.” Instead, Selby was given another 10-month suspended sentence and a paltry fine equivalent to $135.
Transgender pedophiles have avoided jail in the United Kingdom before, including a case in 2023 in which a man who dresses as a woman was caught with dozens of CSAM images. Due to his transgender identity, the court could not decide to put him in a men’s or women’s prison and eventually let him go with an order to attend 30 days of rehabilitation, pay victim surcharges, and be added to the sex offender register.
The two cases are a stark contrast to that of Lucy Connolly, a woman sentenced to over two years in prison for a social media post during the Southport anti-mass migration riots last year, merely for saying she would not care if migrant hotels were set on fire.
