Man jailed for 20 months for assaulting a transgender woman with her own wig

Ryan Kenny, 20, also stole the woman's make up in the attack

Liverpool Crown Court, where Ryan Kenny was sentenced for attacking a transgender woman (Getty Images)

A man who assaulted a transgender woman with her own wig on her first day out in public and stole her make-up has been sentenced to 20 months in a young offenders’ institution.

The 25-year-old victim, who can’t be identified, was returning from a support group meeting when she was followed from Liverpool Lime Street station in March 2014.

Ryan Kenny, 20, from Birkenhead, and a male friend approached the woman and shouted at her. His friend made an inappropriate comment about her gender, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

The Liverpool Echo said Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, told the court the next thing she knew, her wig was pulled off the back of her head and “he hit her across the face with it.”

She was swiped between 10 and 20 times with the wig and Kenny was verbally abusive.

Then she was punched in the face by Kenny, who stole a carrier bag containing £30 to £40 of make-up.

His barrister, John Bellam, told the court he had been extremely sorry for what had happened and the attack was “fuelled by alcohol.”

He was sentenced to 16 months in a young offenders’ institution for assault and four months for theft, to be served consecutively.

Judge Brian Lewis described it as “quite a disgraceful attack on a vulnerable victim” who “was targeted because she was transgender.”

The judge said the completely unprovoked attack was “humiliating, degrading and persistent.”

The court heard the woman suffered bruising to the left side of her face and a cut lip.

She told police the attack happened “for no reason other than she was transgender.”

Her attacker was tracked down by Merseyside Police, with the help of British Transport Police.