Tiffany Scott (prisoner)

Tiffany Louise Scott (1991/92 – 29 February 2024), born Andrew Burns, was a Scottish transgender woman and sex offender, who was subject to an Order for Lifelong Restriction after she admitted to stalking a 13-year-old girl by sending her letters while serving time in prison. Scott also successfully applied to be transferred from a men's to a women's prison, but the application was blocked in 2023.

Biography

Originally from Kinglassie, Fife, media have described Scott as one of Scotland's most dangerous prisoners. She was first convicted of attacking a nurse in Cheshire, England, in 2010, while trying to escape from a hospital. In 2013, and prior to transitioning, Scott admitted stalking a 13-year-old girl while serving time in prison in 2011, and was sentenced to fourteen months in prison, but handed an Order for Lifelong Restriction, meaning she would not be released from prison until she was no longer considered to be an "unmanageable risk to public safety". Scott came out as transgender in 2016, but according to a 2023 article in The Telegraph, had not physically began to transition. Following a series of violent incidents at Glenochil Prison in Clackmannanshire during 2015, which included throwing a chair at a nurse and attacking prison officers, Scott appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court in 2017, where she was sentenced to a further year in prison. Originally scheduled for Alloa Sheriff Court, the Crown Office had recommended dropping the case against Scott because she was believed to pose too much of a danger to the public to appear in court, and the Victorian building at Alloa was deemed to be insufficiently secure. However, her trial was instead moved to Falkirk. Scott did not attend the trial in person, but was required under Scottish law to appear in court for sentencing. Members of the public were consequently cleared from the court during her presence there. In October 2023, Scott was convicted of assaults against four prison officers that had occurred during incidents at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and HMP Low Moss during 2021, and sentenced to two years in prison. The trial had to be moved partway through proceedings to accommodate an increase in security personnel.

In January 2023, the Daily Record reported that Scott had successfully applied for a transfer from a men's prison to a women's facility. The Telegraph reported that a previous application to be transferred had been rejected, and that Scott had successfully reapplied to be moved to a women's prison. Following the report, and the case of Isla Bryson, who was sent to a women's prison following a rape conviction, the Scottish Prison Service announced on 29 January 2023 that it would pause the movement of all transgender prisoners while it carried out an "urgent review" into all of the transgender cases within its prisons. New guidelines were subsequently introduced requiring transgender offenders convicted of violent offences against women to be housed in male prisons. These became effective from 26 February 2024.

Death

On the evening of 28 February 2024, Scott, who was being held at HMP Grampian, was taken to hospital after becoming unwell. She died at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary the following day. The Scottish Prison Service confirmed that a report had been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal and that a Fatal Accident Inquiry would be held in due course.

See also

• Isla Bryson case, another high profile transgender prisoner in Scotland
• Amber McLaughlin, an American trans woman who was convicted and executed for a rape and murder committed before her transition