Transvestite drug dealer let off jail... after judge says it would ruin his chances of having a sex change



A cross-dressing drug dealer has been spared jail after a judge ruled it would ruin his chances of completing a sex change.



Ian Morris, 41, who has changed his christian name to Jean, is due to start hormone treatment next week, having been trapped in a 'sexual nightmare' since childhood.



He ended up in court after police intercepted nearly 2kg of the hallucinogenic drug ketamine which was sent to his flat.



Sex change: Drug dealer Jean Morris, formerly Ian Morris, was spared jail

But his lawyers pleaded with Judge Mark Horton to spare him a jail term because he is at a crucial stage in becoming a woman and would find it 'difficult' in a male prison.



The judge agreed and suspended his 11 month jail term at Bristol Crown Court.



The Judge - who referred to the defendant as 'Miss Morris' throughout the proceedings - said: 'I am in no doubt that you have led something of a nightmare existence as a transsexual for the entirety of your life.



'The result is you have walked something of a sexual tightrope, leading to an extremely sad and depressing existence.



'The reality is this is your final chance to change difficult areas of your sexuality.



'You have received Government funding and if I send you to prison I would be sentencing you to a continuation of your sexual nightmare, possibly forever.'



Sympathy: Bristol Crown Court, where Judge Horton made the ruling

Speaking after the hearing from the window of his first-floor flat in Knowle, Bristol, Morris said he would 'just like to say thank you' to the judge.



During the court hearing on Wednesday George Threlfall, prosecuting, said police intercepted deliveries of ketamine sent from two addresses in Goa, India, to Morris' flat.



The two packages - seized at Bristol's Mount Pleasant post office - contained a total of 1.96kg of the horse tranquilliser, a Class C drug, at around 80 per cent pure.



Mr Threlfall said: 'The defendant signed for them and concealed them.



'They actually contained fructose, because police had intercepted them.



'After the delivery police entered his property and found he had concealed the two packages.'



Morris was also found with cannabis resin, weighing scales and £300 cash, the court heard.



He told police he had agreed to receive the parcels and was asked to pass them on to a friend.



Anna Vigars, defending, said probation and psychiatric report writers were concerned that should her client go to jail it would disrupt his ongoing gender reassignment.



She said: 'Next Monday she is going to a Charing Cross clinic to undergo an assessment and start hormone treatment.



'That should have been October 4 but was cancelled due to a shortage of staff.



'Your honour is dealing with Miss Morris half way through a long and complicated process.'



Mrs Vigars said Morris' early years were dominated by his gender difficulties and had prompted him to steal women's clothes.



He changed his name to Jean in September 2009 and had lived as a woman for the last three years.



However, he stood trial as a man in October last year when he was found guilty of possessing ketamine with intent to supply.



Mrs Vigars said: 'She hopes to take hormone treatment from next Monday, and after that to undergo significant operations.



'If that process is halted now, at the end of the custodial sentence she would find herself back at square one.



'She must go to a man's prison and she will find that particularly difficult.



'She will lose everything that's happened over the last three years.'



The judge told Morris he almost certainly faced prison if he committed a further offence.



The 11 month jail term was suspended for two years.



He ordered him to observe a six-month curfew, in which he must stay at home from 9pm to 5am.

