Should this be allowed

Killer has a sex changeRUTHLESS Mansfield killer Stephen Clarke †” caged for life for the infamous 'wheelie bin murder' †” has sparked controversy by having a sex change on the NHS it was revealed this week.
Callous Clarke (38) is now living as a woman under the name Steph at an all-male open prison in Buckinghamshire as he prepares for a full sex change operation.
The Pleasley man stabbed his boyfriend, Christopher Vitel, 51 times in 1991 and dumped his body in a wheelie bin before going on a spending spree with his victim's credit cards.
The brutal murder sent shock waves through the community and led to trial judge Mr Justice Tucker dubbing Clarke as a 'determined, ruthless and devious young man'.
News of Clarke's shock new life has sparked outrage from his victim's family who still live in the Mansfield area.
Christopher's sister-in-law Karen Buxton, of The Park, told Chad: "I think it is despicable he's able to do what he's doing. He has taken a life away and his is ongoing. Now he is going to change his life round altogether and start from new."
Clarke killed the 26-year-old in February 1991 and then posed as Vitel in order to run up an £8,000 bill on his victim's credit cards and sell his car.
The body was found outside Vitel's Howard Road home by his brother Stephen and Clarke was accused of killing him in order to fund a trip to the USA to see a former boyfriend.
Clarke always denied the murder saying the credit card fraud had been agreed between the pair as they needed the money and a cut to his hand had been caused when he was attacked in Titchfield Park.
A jury at Clarke's first murder trial failed to reach a decision, but a second trial saw the prosecution put fresh evidence before the court and this time he was found guilty.
Now the latest news about the killer †” and reports that he could be freed within the next year †” have stirred up painful memories and feelings for his victim's family.
Ms Buxton told Chad the news had been particularly hard on Christopher's family, especially his mother Dorothy.
"He was literally like an angel," Ms Buxton said. "He was just the perfect person who you just don't find in this day and age. That's what I'll never understand †” how he could do this too him.
"It was just why, why Chris? Why did it have to be him? It's the way he did it †” it's incomprehensible."
Clarke is one of 50 life sentence prisoners at the Spring Hill open prison, which runs a resettlement programme where offenders work in the community in full paid employment.
Ms Buxton said: "It really isn't fair. If he is given a life sentence he should not, after 13 or 14 years, be able to say 'I'm coming out and I'm having a sex change'. Life should mean life."
A prison service spokesman this week said prisoners seeking sex change treatment would be assessed in accordance with NHS guidelines.

If he wants one why not? We cant start deciding what treatments people should have on the NHS because of who they are and what they have done.

Originally Posted by Damien

If he wants one why not? We cant start deciding what treatments people should have on the NHS because of who they are and what they have done.

It's us who have to pay for it though.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Karen Buxton

"I think it is despicable he's able to do what he's doing. He has taken a life away and his is ongoing. Now he is going to change his life round altogether and start from new."

Err, I know she's a member of the victims family and I appreciate what she's saying but how exactly is he going to 'start from new'?

Even if he is in the process of having a sex-change, the legal process has convicted and jailed him, so he's not going to be released just because he is now a she.

I'm sorry if people disagree with me, but this is just a complete non-story.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Nidge

It's us who have to pay for it though.

Yes but we'd also pay (indirectly I might add) for treatment required if he had a heart attack, or 'fell down a flight of stairs'

[basa]

Originally Posted by Nugget

Yes but we'd also pay (indirectly I might add) for treatment required if he had a heart attack, or 'fell down a flight of stairs'

Yeh but the tax payer shouldn't have to foot the bill for some killers elective surgery ffs !!!!

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by basa

Yeh but the tax payer shouldn't have to foot the bill for some killers elective surgery ffs !!!!

Doesn't matter if they / we should or shouldn't - at the end of the day if it's taxpayers money, then it's taxpayers money and there's nothing we can do about it.

Clarke is one of 50 life sentence prisoners at the Spring Hill open prison, which runs a resettlement programme where offenders work in the community in full paid employment.

Anyway, if he (amongst others) is in full paid employment as a part of the programme, won't he be being taxed etc, so he is also indirectly paying for it.

Originally Posted by basa

Yeh but the tax payer shouldn't have to foot the bill for some killers elective surgery ffs !!!!

You aren`t in a position to state that this is elective surgery, and the fact that it was done on the NHS suggests that it wasn`t, certainly not in the sense of a nose job being elective surgery. The facts of the case suggest to me very strongly that this person was suffering from gender dysmorphia, so at the end of the day the surgery is being used to treat a psychiatric condition. In that sense it there is very little difference between this and treating a psychiatric condition of a prisoner with medication, both are going to be paid for out of the money we pay as taxes. The only difference here is that it makes a far better story for trash news reporting.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by dr wadd

You aren`t in a position to state that this is elective surgery, and the fact that it was done on the NHS suggests that it wasn`t, certainly not in the sense of a nose job being elective surgery. The facts of the case suggest to me very strongly that this person was suffering from gender dysmorphia, so at the end of the day the surgery is being used to treat a psychiatric condition. In that sense it there is very little difference between this and treating a psychiatric condition of a prisoner with medication, both are going to be paid for out of the money we pay as taxes. The only difference here is that it makes a far better story for trash news reporting.

Its a bad road to go down when the public decide who deserves treatment on the NHS and who doesnt. The public are generally full of fear and hate for everyone who the media portrays as evil, and i wouldnt like them to decide peoples health care

[kaylee]

Can i just Say that Stephen Vitel is my step dad, Karen Buxton is NOT chris's sister in law as her and steve were never actualy married.
This is REALY painfull for our family and we relay wish that we could just be left alone, Steve does not need this in the papers and the crime and murder of his brother bringing up, he has lost his best friend and brother, its a very sore subject.
I agree that it is very very wrong and that this evil man should not be given these rights BUT each to there own, we cant help what has happend and if its what he needed then you fair play, its just wrong that it is so public.
Sorry if my post seems harsh.

[Fingy]

Forgive me if it is my imigination, but you have just defeated your own purpose by updating a thread which has not been responded to in over 3 years.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by kaylee

Can i just Say that Stephen Vitel is my step dad, Karen Buxton is NOT chris's sister in law as her and steve were never actualy married.
This is REALY painfull for our family and we relay wish that we could just be left alone, Steve does not need this in the papers and the crime and murder of his brother bringing up, he has lost his best friend and brother, its a very sore subject.
I agree that it is very very wrong and that this evil man should not be given these rights BUT each to there own, we cant help what has happend and if its what he needed then you fair play, its just wrong that it is so public.
Sorry if my post seems harsh.

I am sorry for what you have had to go through, but this is a post from 2004 so its not exactly been in the papers lately or in the public eye. Its you that has dragged this post up from the depths of the forum.

[kaylee]

i read that after, i was sent a link .. did agrivate me so i replied.. i didnt read the date until after so i appologise!

[Halcyon]

If he is in prison, he deserves nothing in my opinion.