Female prisoner tells of ordeal at the hands of predator Karen White who molested four inmates

A female prisoner today warns of the dangers of putting transgender inmates in women’s jails after she was sexually assaulted by a paedophile rapist behind bars.

Laura Goldsmith, 38, revealed how she fell prey to notorious sex offender Karen White in HMP New Hall in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

In chilling echoes of the shocking case of transgender double rapist Isla Bryson being placed in an all-female jail in Scotland, Laura told how White was allowed to carry out a campaign of abuse in plain sight after being placed in the jail despite not having surgery and boasted how she was not having hormone treatment.

White was a convicted paedophile and serial sex offender on remand for grievous bodily harm.

White went on to be jailed for life after sexually assaulting two inmates at New Hall.

In October 2018 Karen White (right) – born Stephen Wood (left) – was handed a life sentence for raping two women and sexually assaulting two inmates at HMP New Hall 

Bravely waiving her right to anonymity, Laura said she had been failed by the system which had allowed predatory sex offenders to prey on vulnerable women.

Speaking out in the hope that other women will never have to face a similar fate Laura told MailOnline: ‘There is no doubt that some men are using the transgender issue to get themselves inside women’s prisons.

‘They are either doing it because they are scared of men’s prisons or because it gives them the opportunity to satisfy their perversions.

‘There are men trying to abuse the system and they are being allowed to do so.

‘Women are being put at risk by the system placing predatory men in their prisons. There needs to be a lot more vetting.

‘You shouldn’t be put in harm’s way inside a prison. This should never be allowed to happen again.’

Laura spoke out amid growing concerns over the safety of women in jails in the wake of transgender double rapist Bryson being locked up with women.

Bryson – who was born Adam Graham – was moved to a male prison following an outcry which left Nicola Sturgeon mired in a storm of controversy.

Sturgeon – who had sought to loosen gender identity rules – went on to dramatically quit as Scotland’s first minister.

The shocking case was the latest in a series of scandals surrounding transgender sex offenders placed inside women’s prisons.

In October 2018 White – who was born Stephen Wood – was handed a life sentence at Leeds Crown Court for raping two women and sexually assaulting two inmates at HMP New Hall.

The prison attacks happened between September and October 2017 while she was on remand at the women’s jail where she began gender realignment, wearing a wig, make-up and false breasts.

The court heard White used her ‘transgender persona’ to put herself in contact with vulnerable women.

Passing sentence, Judge Christopher Batty said: ‘You are a predator and highly manipulative and in my view you are a danger.

‘You represent a significant risk of serious harm to children, to women and to the general public.’

White, who was transferred to a male prison after admitting the assaults, denied sexually assaulting two other women in the prison and those allegations were left to lie on file.

Laura, 38, revealed how she fell prey to notorious sex offender Karen White in HMP New Hall in Wakefield, West Yorkshire

Laura told how White was allowed to carry out a campaign of abuse in plain sight after being placed in the jail,  despite not having surgery, and boasted how she was not having hormone treatment

Now Laura has come forward to reveal she too was a victim of the fiend when she was sent to the prison in February 2017 after being sentenced to 28 months for commercial burglary offences.

Laura told how she had been battling drug addiction and was ‘frail and vulnerable’ when White, 57, pounced after targeting her in the exercise yard.

Laura said White attacked her as she was sitting on a bench in the exercise yard one Saturday afternoon.

Laura, who is 5ft 3ins tall and weighed just seven stone, told how she was quickly intimidated by White’s presence.

She said: ‘She was very sleazy and forward. She tried to befriend me for two minutes – then came straight out with a sexual assault.

‘She came and sat beside me and said ‘Hi I’m Karen’. She had a really manly voice. I had seen her about and I heard she was a bit of a creep.

‘I moved to the end of the bench but she shuffled along. She was asking me if I liked men or women. I told her I was gay and she said ‘Oh, well we’ll see about that. I can make you not want women any more’.

‘She was speaking to me like a man, not a transgender woman. She put her hand on my thigh and then slid it between my legs. I was wearing tracksuit bottoms. They were quite loosely fitted.

‘I froze and then I was asking her to get off me. She grabbed my boob with her other hand. That’s when my friend came over and I got up.

‘She was tall and well built. She was on a mission. She was supposed to be taking hormones but she said she hadn’t been taking them and asked if I could see the evidence of that.

‘She was saying ‘I know you like that. I haven’t been taking my medication. Do you want to see’. I said ‘No’. It was disgusting.’

Laura told how she did not return to the exercise yard until the following weekend but was targeted by White again.

She said: ‘We went out and she came over and she started harassing me. I didn’t go out for ages after that. I didn’t go out for three or four months.

‘Eventually I started going out again and she continued to harass me. She would come up and try to grab me. She would slap my bum, follow me around and say ‘I know you want it’.

‘When she threw her arm around me it was more of a headlock. I could feel the strength behind her and it was scary.

‘She was manipulative and creepy. She was there to prey on vulnerable people and she was doing it in plain sight.

‘The prison officers were sitting across the exercise yard drinking coffee and chatting. They weren’t paying much attention.’

Describing the effect of the abuse she said: ‘I was on antidepressants for years afterwards. I was having really bad nightmares, waking up in cold sweats.

Laura’s story echoes the shocking case of transgender double rapist Isla Bryson, who was placed in an all-female jail in Scotland

Bryson, who was born Adam Graham (pictured), was moved to a male prison following an outcry which left Nicola Sturgeon mired in a storm of controversy

‘I stopped writing to people on the outside. It made me really depressed and traumatised.

‘There were a couple of times when I was using drugs in there and I normally wouldn’t use drugs in prison. It was because I was feeling depressed and I wanted to get my mind off thinking about what she did to me.

‘I was not very trusting after that. During my last sentence there was a transgender prisoner. She used to go out to the exercise yard. I was really wary of her. It turned out she was really nice and I felt bad about that but it was because of how she had been with me.’

Laura told how she did not report the assault as she ‘didn’t want to be looked at as a grass’.

But she added: ‘I wish I had now as maybe that would have stopped it happening to other women who were attacked.

‘It also makes you wonder how many other victims have not come forward?’ Laura said of White: ‘I feel it was all an act so he could get into a women’s institute and prey on vulnerable people. I think she thought I was an easy target.

‘She was there the whole time I was. She made a lot of people on edge. She had a few friends but a lot of the women found her creepy. ‘People would move away from her because they knew she was a creep but then she would use the transgender card.

‘She wasn’t the only one. The last time I was in prison there were around 20 transgender women. Some of them are really nice. Some of them you can tell are genuinely transgender but others are there to cop out of going to a man’s institute and some have some sort of sick motive.

‘Some look like they are not even trying. They throw on a wig and women’s clothes and that’s about it and there are ways of cheating in terms of people not taking medication or hormones.

‘I believe the solution is to have a prison that is there just for transgender people. Then women might be safe.’

The Government is currently drawing up plans to reform their policy on housing transgender prisoners. It will mean transgender women with male genitalia or who have been convicted of sexual offences will not serve their sentences in women’s prisons. The new guidance will ‘allow for exemptions to be considered by ministers on a case-by-case basis – though only the most truly exceptional cases will be considered’.

A Government spokesperson said: ‘We will be publishing an updated policy framework shortly, which will set out the new guidance in detail and how it will be implemented by the Prison Service.

‘The implementation of this new policy will take effect soon after we have published the revised framework.

‘The safety of all prisoners is paramount. These changes will ensure a sensitive and common-sense approach to meeting the needs of women in custody, while we continue to ensure that transgender prisoners are appropriately supported in whichever estate they are located in.’