Sex change Aucklander assaulted by prisoners
By PETER O’HARA, NZPA staff correspondent London
A New Zealander jailed yesterday for drug offences had, while in prison on remand, been viciously assaulted because of her sexual “peculiarity,” the Old Bailey was told. Shelley Reney, aged 43, had a chair leg thrust into her mouth, breaking her teeth, and was also verbally threatened, said a defence lawyer, according to the Press Association.
Born a male, Reney had come to Britain from Auckland for a sex change in 1984, and is awaiting the second operation.
Referred to in court as “she,” Reney was remanded first in the Holloway women’s prison, and then with men at Wormwood Scrubs, on charges of know-
ingly allowing her Marylebone, North London, flat to be used as a heroin supply point, and possessing cannabis.
She was jailed for 18 months, after defence counsel, Mr David Matthias, said:
“Prison for this particular woman will be particularly unpleasant. There was a difficulty while she was on remand whether she should go to a men’s or women’s prison.
“She was viciously assaulted by other prisoners (in Wormwood Scrubs) who obviously took exception to her peculiarity,” said Mr Matthias.
Reney was anxious to have her second sex operation and there were people in New Zealand ready to finance it, said Mr Matthias. After that, she proposed
to return to New Zealand with Stephen Anderson, with whom she had cohabited since 1984. Mr Matthias said she had become addicted to drugs to stop her post-operation pain, and stole drug prescriptions to satisfy her craving. She was registered as an addict.
The Judge said he had, in view of her guilty plea, imminent operation and potential “particularly difficult time in prison,” “very substantially” reduced the jail sentence from three years to 18 months.
The Press Association noted there was no indication of which prison she would be sent to.
Anderson was jailed 12 months after pleading guilty to shoplifting an indoor game and a duvet.
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Press, 9 January 1986, Page 5
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330Sex change Aucklander assaulted by prisoners Press, 9 January 1986, Page 5
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