A horrific and calculated crime on the Scottish Borders of all places. At least 'they' had the 'decency' to plead guilty...

It was interesting to hear from a fellow prisoner of Black's that he was not popular in jail (there were many dads there) and the other prisoners did their best to make life, er, awkward for him.

All the reports I’ve seen about this vile person use the pronoun ‘him’ not ‘them’.

I remember Susan Maxwell, too. We’d travelled through that village on a journey south just the week before and it was horrifying to think that the wee mite had been snatched off the street like that. And all the other victims, too. 😢

Aveline, the man who spotted Black as he abducted the final little girl and alerted police, thus leading to his capture, was well known and respected in my village. He now has a street named in his honour. I also used to work beside a family member of one of Black's victims. The effect on the families was horrendous. He was a vile, horrible excuse for a human being.

Does it matter where it happened? It happened.
Should we support his desire to transition with immediate surgery to make his wish come true? ( Though he’d still be male, not female.)

I suspect that I know what you mean Blondiescot. Scotland is a very small world

You'd be surprised at the amount of crime in the Scottish Borders! Drugs are rife in some towns. There is also so much I could say about this particular one, but can't...

I well remember poor Susan Maxwell being snatched in the Scottish borders and the subsequent capture of Robert Black as he bundled another little girl into his van. It was so shocking. Those poor families not forgetting the family of Caroline Hogg a previous murder he'd carried out. She was snatched in a crowd at Portobello. I remember it so well as I was pregnant at the time with my first baby (a girl) and it really affected me and many other mothers in years to come. I never felt happy letting her out to play. Sad times. Bad men.

From what I have read on GN, (my source of knowledge of many things), a lot just have hormone treatment and don’t have surgery.

Exdancer There are various levels of treatment - some go "all the way" some just take the label of the opposite sex and do nothing more, some are partway.

Paddyanne If that is the case that I remember, the killer was caught and convicted, of that and other murders of wee girls. He was caught when a neighbour of another intended victim saw him take her, and alerted police in time for him to be apprehended.

When these people are transitioning, do they go the whole way? By that I mean do they have their penis' removed?
If not, they can't be said to be fully transitioned can they?
Sorry if I'm being extra thick. (it comes from living in the borders where we only have petty crime).

One of the first abduction stories I remember hearing was a wee girl from the borders I believe she was murdered/never found?
No area is free of crime ..of all kinds.I met a young woman who was training for the police service a few years ago ,I asked her where she would like to be sent .She said "somewhere were theres no drugs or murders,maybe an island" I told her she would be very lucky to find anywhere like that on earth

PS presumably a typo or autocorrect, but it’s IN the Borders.
ie the region- not meaning generally “on the borders of Scotland”

kittylester

Slightly baffled by why the Borders should not be subject to horrific crime.

Absolutely
I know Selkirk Sheriff Court well (not from personal appearances I hasten to add) where this man first appeared in front of the Sheriff, as did some of my erstwhile primary schoolmates over the years!
But on the whole, being a rural area, the Borders is, I believe a region where most crime is at worst what you’d call “petty”

He shouldn't be allowed to transition. Any man who truly believed he was in the 'wrong' body wouldn't have committed such a vile and brutal crime against a female, especially a school girl.

I hope any NHS or public funding for the ‘transition’ is permanently withdrawn for she/her/they/him.

Slightly baffled by why the Borders should not be subject to horrific crime.

And he is reported to now be in the process of transitioning. Really?