JK Rowling has blasted a long-time critic of hers after he was convicted for the rape of a twelve-year-old boy. The author has morphed into a controversial figure in recent years due to her stance on trans and women’s rights, making her a regular target for online trolls.
One such troll was Stephen Ireland, the founder of Pride in Surrey, who attacked the Harry Potter creator in 2020 calling her a “TERF”. Rowling took to X: “Stephen Ireland, who targeted me with endless abuse on here because I oppose the chemical castration of children and the removal of protected spaces for women and girls, has just been sentenced to 30 years in jail for child rape.” Yesterday, the depraved paedophile was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the rape of a boy he met on the app Grindr in 2024, not 30 as claimed in Rowling’s post.
She added that it was not the first time that she has been abused by trans activists who have later been convicted of sexual offences.
She said: “He follows in the footsteps of trans-identified man Lexi Secker, who also sent me reams of abuse on here, especially for my belief that women should have single-sex spaces and rape crisis centres.
“Mr Secker has since been sentenced to six and a half years in jail for rape.”
Guildford Crown Court heard how Ireland had met the boy on a dating app who was reported missing at the time of the offence.
The victim, known only as child A, said he smoked a bong with Ireland which was later found to have contained methamphetamine. Pornography was also played on a laptop.
The court also heard how the boy had initially claimed to be 17 but told Ireland he was 13 before the attack, to which the paedophile replied: “Ok, we just have to keep it a secret.”
Judge Patricia Lees, sentencing at Guildford Crown Court on Monday, told how Ireland “took advantage” of a vulnerable child.
She said: “Stephen Ireland is a man who prided himself on being versed in and highly alive to the vulnerabilities of young people linked to the Surrey Pride organisation he was at the time pivotal to.
“A was quite obviously to any adult an extremely vulnerable child who was highly sexualised.
“Any responsible adult would have quickly appreciated that there was a high likelihood A is a young man who had been the subject of sexual grooming by adult men at a very early age and been concerned for him instead of taking advantage of him.”
Ireland was jailed alongside his flatmate David Sutton, who has sentenced to four and a half years in prison.
Using Telegram, Ireland had suggested a threesome with himself and Sutton to the boy and messaged Sutton telling him that he had a “14-year-old baby” who “wants to play with men’s bodies.”
The sick pair were convicted of a string of sexual offences including voyeurism, arranging commission of a child sex offence, and possession of prohibited images of children, earlier this year.
