Trans woman asks that she be sent to a women’s prison if convicted for benefit fraud

A trans woman from Oldham who confessed to falsely claiming £12,000 in benefits over a period of four years, asked that she be sent to a women’s prison if convicted.

Janet Williams, 50, did not declare the several casual jobs that she had taken between 2004 and 2007 while she was receiving incapacity benefit.

Ms Williams said she was voluntarily paying the money back. She reportedly told Justices of the Peace in Oldham that she had been “psychotic” following a blood clot in 2003 which led to severe mental health problems.

Ms Williams, who has been living as a woman since 1980, told magistrates that if she was to be sentenced to imprisonment rather than receive a community sentence, she would wish to be sent to a women’s prison rather than a men’s.

The case was adjourned. Ms Williams will be sentenced on 14 June.