A transgender man who tricked three women into having sex with him by believing he was born a man has been denied a 10-year prison sentence.
Tarjit Singh, 32, insisted on having sex in the dark and used an Ann Summers sex toy in her bedroom to lure her victims in. In her everyday life, she wore men’s clothes.
Singh was born female as Hannah Walters and currently lives as a transgender man.
The attacker, who claimed he was shy or cold because he avoided taking his clothes off during sex, targeted a defenceless victim when she was just 16 years old.
Singh was found guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court of a series of violent and sexual offences against three victims between 2010 and 2016.
The women said they felt sick, humiliated, angry and ashamed when they realised they had been tricked by Singh.
Judge Oscar Del Fabbro sentenced Singh to ten years in prison with a further three years on licence in 2022, describing Singh as an “accomplished and manipulative liar” who committed “ruthless and calculating” crimes.
At a hearing at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, judges rejected Singh’s request to reduce his prison sentence.
Speaking alongside Justice Dingemans, Justice Cutts and Justice Heather Norton, she said the defendant suffered from gender dysphoria and had suffered difficulties while being held in the women’s prison because of the “gender misplacedness” that sometimes occurred and there was no way out of the situation.
Singh made 72 complaints at HMP Downview, 11 of which were accepted and four partially accepted, with judges saying Singh had “displayed challenging behaviour in custody”.
However, the court concluded that the original judge had taken into account the possible difficulties experienced in prison when imposing the sentence.
The court accepted that Singh was mentally ill and rejected objections that the sentencing judge erred about the vulnerability of one of the victims and the extent of planning for the crimes.
The Court of Appeal also concluded that the judge was correct in finding Singh was dangerous.
“There was clear evidence that the judge’s findings were made appropriately,” they ruled.
“The new evidence shows that the plaintiff continues to cause hardship in prison. The finding of dangerousness was a finding the judge was entitled to make.”
At Singh’s trial, it was stated that he refused to undress in his bedroom and that his intimacy with women took place in the dark.
One victim, who was just 16 when she met Singh on Facebook, said she was naked during their first sexual encounter and later told police: “He looked like a man, he acted like a man, that’s not something that happens every day, is it?”
When Singh found a sex toy and asked about it, he beat her, saying in an impact statement: “I was deprived of the most important years of my life.”
“For a long time I was afraid to go out, and when I did it was made to feel like I had to look over my shoulder,” she said.
Singh lied to the second victim, claiming that he was born male, had sex transitioned to female at a young age and was currently in the process of changing his sex again.
The third victim met Walters on the dating site Plenty of Fish and thought she was dating a man, until Walters’ father told her he called her “Hannah” and that “she was a girl.”
“I realised it was all a lie and it makes you sick when someone you love does what they did,” he told police.
“You feel like a fool for believing someone you thought you could trust. I never thought anyone would do this to me, especially someone I cared about.”
In his impact statement, he said: “This feels like an intrusion into my life that no one will ever understand.
“(Singh) stole my 20s from me. I am so scared to go places I want to go and I get scared when someone walks too close to me.”
The third victim said she suspected something was wrong when she could not see any scars on Singh’s body after he claimed to have undergone gender reassignment surgery.
He said a storyline about transgender issues in Hollyoaks made him realise Singh was lying and he confirmed his suspicions by finding Singh’s birth certificate.
“She’s a manipulator, she’s crazy,” he added. “She’s a spiteful and malicious woman who needs serious help.”
Cell phone evidence revealed incriminating websites that Walters visited, including FreeToMProsthetics.com, a company that makes ultra-realistic prosthetic penises.
The court heard Singh gave one victim a black eye and broke another’s nose by hitting her with a mobile phone. The second woman was also punched, slapped, beaten and strangled.
“You deceived them by not actually disclosing that you were biologically born a woman,” the sentencing judge said.
“Instead of having an open, honest, and respectful discussion with them about your sexuality, who you truly want to be, and how you want to live your life, you instead chose a different path.
“With them, you chose the path of deception. You convinced them that you were a man – you moved and took on the appearance of a man, and whether biologically or through transition, it does not matter. That is the impression you give to women.
“They were drawn to your charm, your humor, your friendliness, and your ability to lend a sympathetic ear. But the truth about you couldn’t be more different.”
Singh has previous convictions for animal cruelty, drug supply and the brutal assault of a woman who was lured to Singh’s home in 2009.
Singh was returned to a women’s prison in 2016 with a sentence of more than seven years after drugging a man who was targeted because of her film Plenty of Fish.
Singh, from north London, denied the allegations but was found guilty of three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, six counts of making threats to kill and one count of making threats to kill.
A sexual harassment prevention order was issued to stop Singh from using the internet and social media to target women.
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