A TRANSSEXUAL who downloaded sickening child porn has been spared jail — because she might not have a nice time in prison.
Laura Voyce could have got nine months inside after being convicted of 14 counts of downloading indecent images of children.
But the judge in the case spared the 20-year-old a custodial sentence over fears for her safety despite saying she deserved to be caged.
Voyce — who used to be known as Luke — was told by Judge Lesley Newton that because other lags might not like sharing a prison with a paedo transsexual he would hand her a suspended sentence as jail would be such an "appalling experience".
Perverted
Voyce is in the process of having a sex change. She is still biologically a man but legally a woman.
Judge Newton said: "Frankly, you deserve to go to prison, but I can't bring myself to send you to prison, entirely because I think prison would be an appalling experience for you.
"I do not see how you could be kept safe in a prison environment with the best will in the world on the part of those who run such establishments."
She added: "I'm satisfied that you downloaded those images with a view to perverted sexual gratification. I take these offences very seriously.
"These are real children who are being abused so that people like you can look at them."
Manchester Crown Court heard how a stash of child porn was found on Voyce's computer by police investigating a separate allegation.
Four of the 14 pictures uncovered were close to being the most serious grade of images and showed youngsters being abused.
Voyce, who was living in Withington, Manchester, when the images were found in 2008, claimed she looked at the pictures to come to terms with her own troubled childhood.
Kay Driver, defending, said if Voyce was jailed she faced being sent to a male prison.
She said: "She's clearly going to be extremely vulnerable in a male prison environment."
Voyce, now living in Kirkby, Merseyside, still claims to be innocent.
She was handed a nine-month sentence suspended for a year and ordered to do 100 hours of community service.
She must also sign the Sex Offenders' Register for five years.
Sex-swap paedo spared 'bad time' in jail | The Sun |News
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Laura Voyce could have got nine months inside after being convicted of 14 counts of downloading indecent images of children.
But the judge in the case spared the 20-year-old a custodial sentence over fears for her safety despite saying she deserved to be caged.
Voyce — who used to be known as Luke — was told by Judge Lesley Newton that because other lags might not like sharing a prison with a paedo transsexual he would hand her a suspended sentence as jail would be such an "appalling experience".
Perverted
Voyce is in the process of having a sex change. She is still biologically a man but legally a woman.
Judge Newton said: "Frankly, you deserve to go to prison, but I can't bring myself to send you to prison, entirely because I think prison would be an appalling experience for you.
"I do not see how you could be kept safe in a prison environment with the best will in the world on the part of those who run such establishments."
She added: "I'm satisfied that you downloaded those images with a view to perverted sexual gratification. I take these offences very seriously.
"These are real children who are being abused so that people like you can look at them."
Manchester Crown Court heard how a stash of child porn was found on Voyce's computer by police investigating a separate allegation.
Four of the 14 pictures uncovered were close to being the most serious grade of images and showed youngsters being abused.
Voyce, who was living in Withington, Manchester, when the images were found in 2008, claimed she looked at the pictures to come to terms with her own troubled childhood.
Kay Driver, defending, said if Voyce was jailed she faced being sent to a male prison.
She said: "She's clearly going to be extremely vulnerable in a male prison environment."
Voyce, now living in Kirkby, Merseyside, still claims to be innocent.
She was handed a nine-month sentence suspended for a year and ordered to do 100 hours of community service.
She must also sign the Sex Offenders' Register for five years.
Sex-swap paedo spared 'bad time' in jail | The Sun |News
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