Tarjit Singh, who was born Hannah Walters, has been convicted of tricking women into sex
(Picture: CPS London)A trans man who tricked three separate women into sex when they believed he was born male has been jailed for ten years.
Tarjit Singh, 32, insisted on sex in the dark and used an Ann Summers strap-on sex toy in the bedroom to dupe his victims, while dressing in men’s clothing in his everyday life.
Snaresbrook crown court heard Singh – originally known as Hannah Walters – was born female but is now trans, and committed a series of violent and sexual crimes against the three victims between 2010 and 2016.
The women said they felt sick, were humiliated, and angry and ashamed when they realised that they had been tricked by Singh.
Judge Oscar Del Fabbro imposed a ten-year prison sentence with an added three years on licence, calling Singh “an accomplished and manipulative liar” who had known the victims were vulnerable when he committed the “cruel and calculating” crimes.
“You deceived them by not truly revealing you were born a biological female”, he said.
“Instead of opening up a frank, honest, and respectful discussion with them about your gender and who you really wanted to be and how you wished to lead your life, you chose a different path instead.
“With them, you chose a path to deceit. You pursuaded them you were male - you acted and took on the appearance of a male, and whether biological or through the transition process it matters not. That’s the impression you gave the women.
“They were drawn in by your charm, humour, companionship, and ability to purportedly lend them a sympathetic ear. But nothing could be further from the truth about you.”
The court heard Singh refused to get undressed in the bedroom and ensured intimacy with each of the women took place in the dark.
One victim, who had just turned 16 when she met Singh through Facebook, said she was naked during their first sexual encounter, and later told police: “He looked like a guy, he acted like a guy, it’s not an everyday thing, is it?”
She was beaten up by Singh when she found a sex toy and asked about it, and said on Wednesday in an impact statement she had been “robbed of the most important years of my life”.
“For a long time I was afraid to go out, and if I did I was made to feel like I had to watch over my shoulder”, she said.
Singh lied to the second victim, telling her he had been born male, had a sex change to become a woman as a teenager, and claimed to be now in the process of changing back again.
The third victim met Walters through the Plenty of Fish dating website, believing she was dating a man until she heard Walters’ father “call him ‘Hannah’ and told me he was a girl”.
“I realised everything was a lie, and to have someone you loved do what he has done makes you feel sick”, she told police.
“You feel like you are stupid for believing someone you thought you could trust. I never thought anyone would do that to me, especially someone I cared about.”
In her impact statement, she said: “It feels like an invasion of my life that no else will ever understand.
“(Singh) stole my 20s from me. I am too scared to go to places I want to go, and get scared when someone is walking too close to me.”
The third victim told the court she suspected something was amiss when she did not see scarring on Singh’s body, after he claimed to have just gone through a sex change operation.
She said a storyline on Hollyoaks about transgender issues had helped her to understand Singh was lying, and she confirmed her suspicions by hunting out Singh’s birth certificate.
“He is a manipulator, he is crazy”, she added. “He is a spiteful and malicious woman that needs some serious help.”
Mobile phone evidence showed incriminating websites Walters had visited, including FreeToMProsthetics.com, a company making ultra-realistic prosthetic penises.
The court heard Singh left one of the victim’s with a black eye, and broke another’s nose by striking her with a mobile phone. The latter woman was also punched, slapped, beaten, and strangled.
Singh has previous convictions for cruelty to an animal, drugs supply, and a 2009 offence of assault and false imprisonment, where a woman was lured to Singh’s flat and brutally assaulted.
Imposing a 33-month jail sentence, the judge found that Singh was a “manipulative liar” who had posed a false friend to the victim.
In 2016, Singh was back behind bars at a women’s prison with a sentence of more than seven years, when a man was drugged after being targeted over Plenty of Fish.
Kate Bex, representing Singh, said he has been diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder, gender dysphoria, and has been recognised by expert reports as someone who is a trans man.
She urged the court to accept that the jury cleared Singh at trial over further charges, arguing that showed that the deception was not long-lasting in the relationships.
“Mr Singh has lived as a man for all his adult life and much of his teenage years”, she said. “He has never lived as a woman pretending to be a man, cross-dressing as a part-time fetish. He has always presented as a man.”
Ms Bex said Singh is currently being held at a female prison, and is explosed to daily ridicule based on misunderstanding of his gender dysphioria.
Singh, from north London, denied but was convicted of three counts of assault by penetration, six counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count of making a threat to kill.
A sexual harm prevention order was imposed to curb Singh’s ability to use the internet and social media to target women.
