A sex offender who abducted and raped his care worker is demanding to be known as a woman named Claire as he prepares for freedom.
Officers at HMP Edinburgh were stunned when Albert Caballero, 50, bald and reputed to have “a crazed look in his eyes”, demanded lipstick and eye make-up and gave himself the new name. Having served half his sentence, Caballero is eligible to apply to the Parole Board for Scotland to be released back into the community.
Insiders at Edinburgh’s Saughton Prison say Caballero only recently changed his name to Claire and is telling fellow cons he will be transferred to a women’s prison before release. Caballero’s case comes amid a row over new “self-ID” gender recognition laws, passed by the SNP/Green Government and blocked by the UK government, which make it easier for trans people to change their legal sex.
A senior staff source at the prison said Caballero’s behaviour had a chilling effect on other inmates. The source said: “There’s something about him that calls to mind Silence of the Lambs. He has mad, staring eyes and sometimes they just seem to go right through you.”
The source added: “There has been talk in the jail about the prospect of him seeking a move to be among women but, given his offence, I don’t see how anyone would risk it, even the most vociferous person in favour of self-ID.”
While release is automatic at half-sentence for those serving less than four years, long-term prisoners like Caballero can apply for freedom at half-sentence. Under laws passed in 2016, some offenders can be held until six months before the end of their sentence, if the Parole Board for Scotland believes they are not safe to release.
Scottish Conservative shadow community safety minister Russell Findlay tried to introduce a clause into the GRR bill preventing sex offenders from using the new streamlined gender change rules and it was voted down by other MSPs. But the UK Government this week used a controversial section 35 order to halt the Bill, claiming it was in conflict with UK-wide equalities laws.
Women’s safety campaigners have also raised concerns about sexual predators changing gender taking advantage of self-ID procedures. Dr Kate Coleman, of the Keep Prisons Single Sex campaign, said: “This is not an uncommon situation. The advantages are obvious: special treatment in the male estate and the possibility of being transferred to a women’s prison.”
Caballero attacked his victim, a young woman who had been helping provide him with care for some months, when she attended alone at his Edinburgh flat on December 27, 2018. When she tried to leave, she found the then 46-year-old predator had locked the door. Caballero then told her he was going to rape her.
The woman fought back and punched him in the face but was then forced into the bedroom where she was attacked. In June 2019, Caballero was sentenced to eight years in jail, and was made subject to a supervision order for a further four years after he leaves prison.
He was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely, while his traumatised victim has never been able to return to work. Caballero was detained just after the rape in December 2018, so his eight-year term was backdated to that date.
This means he has passed the halfway point and is understood to be preparing to apply to the Parole Board for release.
An SPS spokesperson said: “All decisions on the most appropriate location to accommodate someone are made on an individualised basis, informed by a multi-disciplinary assessment of the rights and needs of the individual and of others in our care.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The SPS uses comprehensive individualised risk assessments to inform decisions such as the appropriate location of transgender people in custody and not the basis of a Gender Recognition Certificate.”
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