Following the UK’s Supreme Court ruling, trans women held in custody by the British Transport Police (BTP) will now be strip searched by male officers, not female. On Wednesday (16 April) the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case brought by gender-critical group For Women Scotland against the Scottish government that the the legal definition of a woman excludes trans women and the protected characteristic of ‘sex’ under the 2010 Equality

A police force has become one of the first to confirm it has changed its strip search policy in the fallout from the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman.British Transport Police (BTP) said a day after the judgment that it had adopted a new “interim position” which will see trans people held in custody strip searched by an officer in line with their birth sex.

A police force has announced that male officers will begin performing searches of trans women following Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex. The British Transport Police (BTP) says it has adopted a new “interim position” which will mean trans people held in custody will be searched by an officer in line with their birth sex.