Sign up to FREE email alerts from DevonLive - Court Insider Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A transgender ex-soldier has been jailed after she was caught with images of child rape and torture for the second time.

Ella Davies gave herself up to police after being on the run for two months during which she lived rough in woodland around Tavistock and Plymouth.

Police issued a public appeal for information because of concerns over the welfare of Davies, who is a biker and has appeared at previous court hearings in full leathers.

She is a transgender father-of-two who was on a suspended sentence for committing identical offences when she was living in Plymouth in 2016 under his original identity as Daniel Reeves.

Her new home in Paignton was raided by police in August 2017 and a total of 1,103 images of children were found on her smartphone.

They included a photograph of a naked girl of about three reaching out for help in obvious distress and the word 'Rape' written on her body.

Another showed a girl of about two being raped by an adult male, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Davies, aged 36, of Rothesay Gardens, Plymouth, admitted making and possessing indecent images of children, breaching bail, and breaking a suspended sentence.

She was jailed for a year and nine months by Judge David Evans, who also made a sexual harm prevention order which will enable the police to monitor her future use of the internet.

He told her: "You are repeat offender and this case is aggravated by the very young age and discernible distress of the subjects of the image.

"Your seeking out of these odious images contributes to the demand for then and leads to their creation and the harm that causes to children.

"I accept your experience of custody may be more challenging for you than for others, for obvious reasons."

Davies will start her sentence at the all-male Exeter Prison and it will then be up to the prison service to decide whether to transfer her to a male or female prison.

Mr Tom Bradnock, prosecuting, said Davies was made subject to a two-year suspended sentence at Plymouth Crown Court in 2016 for 12 similar offences.

Police raided the house where he was living in Dukes Place, Paignton, on August 31, 2017 and seized her Samsung mobile, which contained the child images, including 103 in the most serious category. Some had been downloaded just hours earlier.

Mr Barry White, defending, said Davies suffers from severe psychiatric problems arising from her gender dysphoria, and was sectioned in 2017. He is autistic and had been diagnosed with severe depression.

He said Davies was sent on a sex offenders' course in 2016 but was unable to complete it because of her gender issues and had received some one-to-one treatment from the probation service instead.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Her psychological problems arose from childhood abuse and were aggravated by the break up of her marriage and loss of contact with her two children.

He said: "She is disgusted by her behaviour. When she was due in court in March, she was terrified about what was going to happen.

"She took to the woods and stayed in various places before she went into Crownhill police station to give herself up last Thursday."