Sex change helps Brit drug dealer avoid jail

Sex change helps Brit drug dealer avoid jail
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
LONDON, JAN 13
A British drug dealer, who was caught in the city of Bristol with 2kg of ketamine smuggled from Goa, escaped jail because a judge decided it would ruin his dream of a sex change.
Ian Morris, 41, who changed his name to Jean, admitted to possession of nearly 2kg of the powerful horse tranquiliser ketamine, with intent to supply. But his lawyer told the court that he was about to start hormone treatment, and would find conditions ‘particularly difficult’ if he was sent to a male prison. Judge Mark Horton let him walk free with a suspended 11-month jail term.
The judge told Morris – who was referred to as ‘Miss Morris’ during the trial, that if (s)he was sent to prison, it would be sentencing her to a continuation of her sexual nightmare, possibly forever. Morris said (s)he would just like to say thank you to the judge.
Police in Bristol intercepted two packages of ketamine – containing a total of 1.96kg of the hallucinogenic drug of around 80 per cent purity – sent from two addresses in Goa to Morris’ flat in Bristol. (S)he signed for them and then hid them. The parcels Morris got actually just contained fructose powder, because police had earlier intercepted the original packages containing ketamine and substituted them. Hashish and weighing scales were also found in the flat. Morris told police (s)he had agreed to receive the parcels and pass them on to a ‘friend’.
Defence lawyer Anna Vigars told the court that if Morris was jailed, if would disrupt his ongoing gender reassignment. He had officially changed his name to Jean in September 2009, and had lived as a woman for three years. But he had to stand trial as a man on the drugs charge. (S)he would have to go to a man’s prison, where (s)he would find conditions particularly difficult, she pleaded.
The judge told Morris (s)he would “certainly” go to prison if (s)he committed a further offence. He suspended the jail term for two years and ordered Morris to observe a six-month curfew, in which (s)he has to stay at home from 9 pm to 5 am.