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Lexi-Rose Crawford has been convicted of committing a rape with "her penis", the court's formal indictment said.
A predator who identifies as transgender has been found guilty of raping a friend with "her penis" only a few weeks after being freed from prison for child sex offences. Lexi-Rose Crawford, a biological male who now identifies as a woman, was previously given a four-year prison sentence for having sex with an underage girl after meeting the minor online. The 24-year-old, who started using feminine pronouns after being released from prison in January 2019, raped a vulnerable friend a few weeks later.
Crawford originally complained of having "blackouts" and claimed to have no memory of the sexual assaults at Bristol Crown Court on March 10.
In less than two hours of deliberation, the jury found Crawford guilty of rape and sexual assault despite the defendant claiming to have no knowledge of the attack. For legal reasons, Crawford's victim cannot be identified but is well known to be exceptionally defenceless.
The woman described how Crawford tried to get her to lay next to her before pinning her down and assaulting her.
The victim said in court: "[Crawford] wanted me to lie down next to [her] and then tried to start … cuddling me, which I don’t feel comfortable with anyway. And then she started removing my clothes, which I didn’t want."
The formal indictment used in court said that "her penis" was used during the rape.
Despite the victim's repeated protests, Crawford removed her clothing and raped her.
Asked why she didn’t fight back, she said: "What could I have done without using physical contact to stop [her]? And then that could have been me in the wrong by using physical contact to stop [her]."
In response to Crawford's claimed lapse of memory, Prosecutor David Scutt pointed out that there was no medical evidence to support this claim, and called it a "convenient excuse."
Mr Scutt added: "It appears you can remember the good stuff, but you cannot remember the bad stuff. Are you pretending that you can't remember?"
Crawford denied the allegation, saying: "No."
But the prosecutor pressed again, asking: "What I'm going to suggest is this – that you did those things and you know you did. Agree or disagree?” - to which, Crawford replied: “Disagree."
Crawford was released on conditional bail following the guilty verdict and will be sentenced on May 10. Throughout the four-day trial, Crawford was referred to with feminine pronouns and was addressed as "Miss" by lawyers and Judge Michael Longman.
Crawford was previously convicted of raping a teenage girl in 2017 after grooming her.
If Crawford is sentenced to prison, it is expected that the rapist will be placed in a men's prison due to recent prison policy reforms in the UK regarding the treatment of certain transgender convicts.
The Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service announced new guidelines for housing male prisoners who claim to be women on February 27, with an updated framework saying: "Transgender women offenders no longer housed in women’s prisons if they have male genitalia or have committed sex crimes."