Transgender woman attacked paramedic with bottle of shampoo in back of ambulance

A transgender woman attacked a paramedic with a shampoo bottle in an unprovoked mid-afternoon assault. Kevin Fletcher, 36, now known as Leyla, struck the worker on the head before kicking him after being found stricken in Manchester city centre. Fletcher has been attempting to undergo gender reassignment surgery for the last 12 years, a court heard. However after several failed attempts she began binge drinking to cope with the emotional distress, magistrates were told.

The emergency services were called to St Mary’s Parsonage in the city centre at around 1pm on a Thursday afternoon in September to reports a woman was having a fit. They found Fletcher on the floor though after checking her over they found she wasn’t fitting, Tess Kenyon, prosecuting said. They then put her in a wheelchair and put her into the ambulance which is where she launched the attack on paramedic Philip Ogden.



She threw a bottle of shampoo she had bought earlier that day at him, hitting him on the head, before kicking out and hitting him in the shin. Police were called and she was arrested. Fletcher of Salford, pleaded guilty to assault at Manchester Magistrates court. She was handed a conditional discharge by magistrates, meaning she will not be punished unless she commits any more offences, despite having a previous conviction for assault. Chairman of the bench Terri Farrow said: “Normally this offence would carry a community order.

“However given your personal difficulties and everything you have been through and are still to go through, we are going to impose a conditional discharge.” She was also ordered to pay £200 compensation to her victim, as well as £85 costs and a £25 victim surcharge. Ambulance service bosses have slammed her sentence. Speaking after the hearing, Director of Emergency Service for North West Ambulance Service, Derek Cartwright said: “The Trust is extremely disappointed with the sentence given to the perpetrator in this instance. Our message is that we will always push for those who assault crews to receive the maximum sentence allowed. It’s unfortunate that hasn’t happened in this case.”