Abigail Waller 29

Description

Previous name Jamie Waller.

Abigail Waller returned to the dock just three years after she was jailed for child sex offences under birth name Jamie. The 29-year-old, who now likes to be called 'Abi', breached court-imposed conditions by messaging three schoolgirls on Facebook - using her wife's phone.

Jurors heard that using a fake profile with photos of an 'attractive' young man, Waller told the 13 and 14 year old girls that they were 'so pretty' and 'really beautiful'. Waller, who now has long dark hair in a pony tail and wore a pink floral dress during his trial, tried to argue her wife of nine years Lucy Waller was behind the messages.

Now, the sex predator - formerly a disability care worker - has been jailed again, this time for three and a half years. In court, 'she' and 'her' pronouns were used by barristers and the judge when referring to Waller.

However, Mrs Waller - who appeared as a prosecution witness and gave evidence against her spouse - referred to Waller as 'Jamie', used the pronoun 'he', but also referred to her as: "Abi, as she is now". Waller, from Gosport, was jailed at Portsmouth Crown Court for

five years in 2020 after admitting a string of 'serious' child sex offences. The offences included blackmailing a 13 year old girl into sending Waller sexual photos of herself, and having the child call Waller 'sir' or 'daddy'. 

At court in 2020 Waller was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order [SHPO], banning any contact with children under 18 and the use of devices connected to the internet unless Waller informed police about them.

The following year, while in prison, the paedophile 'started identifying as a woman'. In May 2022, Waller was released from jail half-way through the sentence and was taken back by wife Mrs Waller at their home in Gosport. But within three months, Waller had started her 'grooming process' again.

At his trial, prosecutor Tim Dracass told jurors at the same court where Waller had been previously convicted that the paedophile breached the order in August 2022 by messaging three girls on Facebook, two of whom were 14 and one of whom was 13. Waller used his wife's second phone, a Samsung in a pink case, while she was out at work and used a Facebook profile under the name of Jake Smith, it was heard.

Waller told the girls 'you are really beautiful', said they were 'so pretty', sent a love heart emoji, and claimed to be aged 14. Waller was caught by police on August 4, 2022, when officers visited the house for a separate reason and discovered Waller hiding the Samsung in her lap.

Opening the three-day trial, Mr Dracass told jurors of Waller's gender change and that she was 'previously Jamie Kevin Harold Waller'. Mr Dracass said: "The defendant is Abigail Waller, that's how the defendant wishes to be known and currently identifies. She has been charged in that name. She was previously known by a different name, her birth name, Jamie Waller."

Giving evidence against Waller, Mrs Waller said: "I've decided to divorce [Waller]." She said her Samsung was a secondary phone which she mainly used as an alarm clock, but that it was connected to the internet and had Facebook on it.

The phone had three Facebook accounts linked to it - Lucy Waller, Jamie Waller, and Jake Smith. Mrs Waller said when she left for work at 7.30am on August 4 she left the phone upstairs - not on the sofa where it was found in Waller's lap. Mrs Waller told jurors: "I've never done anything with it [the Jake Smith profile]... I've never used it."

Defendant Waller gave evidence and was asked her name. She told jurors: "Jamie Kevin Harold Waller, but I prefer Abi. I started [identifying as a female] around 2021, the end of September 2021. I identify as a female. I'm waiting to [be seen by] a gender identity clinic."

Waller has been serving time at men's prisons - HMP The Verne on Isle of Portland, Dorset, and HMP Winchester. Giving evidence, Waller claimed she 'didn't send messages' to the young girls, 'didn't recognise them', and suggested her wife was behind a plot to frame her to 'set me up'.

Waller said: "The only person who I know had access to [the phone] was my wife, Lucy. We were arguing quite a lot, there were difficulties. As far as I was aware, we were still together. I believe [Mrs Waller sent the messages] to maybe get me in trouble, to get me put back in."

Waller added: "She knows that I have been in trouble for it before in the past. I believe she was actually in another relationship with another, current boyfriend that she is with at this time and she wanted me out of the way without telling me."

Waller also claimed she is no longer aroused by children. "I had a sexual interest in young girls, not anymore", she said. "I've done offending behaviour courses whilst I was inside."

Waller was convicted by a jury of four counts of breaching a SHPO. Mr Dracass said: "This was the start of something that could have resembled the circumstances of the previous conviction. Had the police not intercepted this phone when they did so, the crown submits it may well have been that there was a risk that serious harm could have taken place."

At the sentencing hearing, Ellie Fargin, defending, asked the judge to consider how Waller will cope in prison as an inmate who identifies as female. She said: "We ask you to bear in mind the conditions in prison and the issues Ms Waller will face in prison due to her ADHD and autism and because of her gender identity matter which she is awaiting treatment for."

Judge Michael Bowes KC jailed Waller for three and a half years, saying that her messages were a 'pre-cursor to what Waller had in mind'. Sentencing Waller, Judge Bowes KC said: "You have a serious record for offences involving children. "Looking at your previous convictions... There is a very unpleasant background of seeking to blackmail children."

Judge Bowes KC highlighted the fact Waller re-offended three months after being released from prison. He continued: "The messages themselves would appear to be fairly innocuous, but I am satisfied they were part of a grooming process.

"[The messages] were to gain their trust, with a view to take matters further and that's part of the gravity of these offences. At your trial, you denied matters, seeking to blame your wife, but the jury convicted you."