'He should have been hanged'
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by Rebecca Hughes
"He shouldn't even be alive - he should have been
hanged."
This was the reaction of the brother of a man beaten to death on
hearing the killer was seeking a sex change and wanted the taxpayer
to fund it.
Now Jim White has launched a campaign to bring in a law banning
prisoners from having the operation and associated treatments on
the NHS.
Disabled Clive White, 56, suffered 150 injuries after being
attacked with an axe, hammer, and stamped on in 2000 by Robert
Page, who now uses the name Emma.
Page, of Rectory Road, Sittingbourne, was convicted of the
murder of disabled Mr White, who lived four doors away but later
had his conviction quashed and his guilty plea to manslaughter was
accepted. He is now in HMP Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Mr White's brother and sister-in-law Judy, both 64, from Luton,
have started a petition across Medway and Sittingbourne to try to
stop prisoners receiving NHS-funded sex changes.
Mr White said: "When I found out the news this room was more
than blue it was black and purple. I am absolutely disgusted and we
finally thought it was all over, but now everything is being
dragged up again.
"When I visited my brother after the attack he was like a bunch
of rags at the bottom of his bed. This man shouldn't even be alive;
he should have been hanged, but instead he's getting this paid by
the taxpayer."
Clive's family said they were told years ago that Page requested
a sex swap, but were led to believe he would never get his way,
leaving them shocked when they were told that Page was now called
Emma.
The couple have been told that Page has since developed breasts
after £200-a-month hormone treatment, wears a blonde wig and is
allowed to dress in skirts and blouses in jail.
He is due to have gender reassignment surgery in about 18
months, which would see him transferred to a female
prison.
A statement from the department said: "All decisions made about
gender reassignment are rightly based on an individual clinical
assessment."
It added: "Transsexual prisoners have the right to receive the
same range and quality of NHS treatments and services as anyone
else, including treatment for gender reassignment."
The couple, who have been handing out petitions for a week
across Medway, are hoping to collect 10,000 signatures so they can
present the petition to Prime Minister David Cameron and hope it
will stop all prisoners receiving NHS-funded sex changes.
His wife, Judy, who has been collecting signatures, added: "The
support from local people has been great.
"Strangers are coming up to us in the street and saying they are
supporting us. Our petitions forms are filling up fast. We have
been told the surgery is happening in 18-months so we're going to
do all we can to stop it in that time."
Jim, who has suffered from three strokes and a heart attack,
added: "If I didn't have a grandchild on the way then I don't think
I would have been able to cope with all this again and I don't
think I'd still be standing here today."
Monday, November 14 2011
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