Last week, the BBC News website informed readers about a shocking alleged murder. A 70-year-old Brighton woman appeared in court, it reported, on suspicion of hacking her 70-year-old husband to death with a samurai sword. Local outlets, Brighton and Hove News and the Argus, also covered the story of the allegedly homicidal granny.
All of these outlets have fundamentally misled their readers. The suspect, Joanna Rowland-Stuart, is a man. His late husband, Andrew Rowland-Stuart, was also a man.
While the BBC and local journalists fell over themselves trying not to ‘misgender’ the alleged murderer, internet sleuths took the time to dig into the history of the couple and to uncover the facts. The Gender Critical Woman blog revealed that prior to his retirement, Joanna Rowland-Stuart worked as an equality and diversity manager for Sussex Learning and Skills Council in Brighton. He was active in the local trans community and appeared at events alongside the Sussex Police and the Brighton Kemptown MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle.
For a while, former trucker Andrew Rowland-Stuart also claimed to be a woman and went by the name ‘Angie’. At the time of their marriage in 2006, the couple identified as ‘lesbians’, although Andrew appears to have subsequently desisted from his trans identity.
Looking at Joanna Rowland-Stuart’s activities in Brighton, it’s fair to say he was up to his moobs in the diversity, equity and inclusion industry.
That’s the real story.