Flasher let-off group therapy sessions after undergoing sex change

A flasher will not have to undergo group sex offending treatment handed down as part of his punishment because he is now a she. The sex offender, then known as Stuart Fisher, was given a groupwork programme for men after his conviction for outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner. And in what is believed to be a legal first, he has seen the terms of his punishment changed after gender reassignment made him a woman. The convicted offender, who now goes by the name of Saralee Fisher, will now have to carry out one-to-one work with a probation officer.

It is believed it is the first time ever officials have been forced to alter the conditions of a sex offender’s punishment because of a sex change. Fisher was handed a community order with supervision requirements in January 2010 for the charges. But since then the 47-year-old has undergone gender reassignment to become a woman. So probation officials were forced to try to alter the terms of the sentence, in what is believed to be a legal first. A hearing at North Tyneside Magistrates Court last month saw the requirement for Fisher to attend the groupwork programme be removed from the punishment.



However Fisher, from North Tyneside, will have to undergo one-to-one work with a probation officer. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The suitability of treatment programmes for offenders is assessed on a case by case basis and the decision to vary a community sentence requirement is a matter for the courts. If an offender is not deemed suitable for group courses their offending behaviour will still be addressed on a one to one basis with specialist help if required”. The offences of outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner in public were committed by Fisher in March and November 2009 in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.

In order to have gender reassignment surgery a man must first prove a constant desire to be a woman for two years and demonstrate their ability to live as a woman for a year to psychologists before surgery. A source close to the case said: “Obviously this is a very unusual case and authorities in the North have never had to deal with a situation like this before. The groupwork programme was specifically for men so it wasn’t suitable for a woman to be on the course. As the offender became a woman part way through the course something had to be done. There was never a chance that the punishment would be removed - it will just be carried out in a different way.”