By Genevieve Gluck
March 15, 2024
A trans-identified male who had previously been cleared by a jury of exposing himself to two 11-year-old girls has now been jailed for possessing “abhorrent” pornography involving children. Samantha Norris, whose given name has been withheld by local media outlets, pleaded guilty in Southampton Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images of children, one count of possessing prohibited images of children, and a charge of possessing an extreme pornographic image depicting a person engaging in sexual activity with an animal.
The court heard that Norris, 56, was found in possession of 16,000 images of children, including about 2,000 still and 121 moving images classified as Category A, the most serious type. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, Category A child pornography is defined as depicting “penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal or sadism.”
The images recovered from Norris’ devices included children aged as young as three, with others showing children approximately six years of age in “distress and pain.”
Presiding Judge Nicholas Rowland noted that in addition to the graphic child abuse materials, Norris had written notes describing sexual fantasies involving a four-and-a-half year old child and had made a “New Year’s resolution to have sex with a girl under 10.”
Photo Credit: Hampshire Constabulary
During sentencing, Judge Rowland reprimanded Norris for his self-absorbed attitude, sitting: “It’s all about you and not the victims. You do not accept they are victims, you have distorted views and you do not feel your offending should be treated as serious – how would a right-minded person think about that?”
The judge continued: “Your views are alarming and complex – you present a high risk of harm to children. It’s pretty blatant to me that you decided not to enter guilty pleas (earlier) as these pleas would have gone in front of the jury on the other (exposure) matters.”
Norris was sentenced to two years in jail, and will be subjected to sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.
Norris had previously been cleared of charges of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and of indecent exposure relating to an incident which took place last year.
In August 2023, Ringwood Police issued a statement declaring that Norris was being investigated after he had been accused of exposing his genitals to two 11 year-old girls from the window of his home on July 27. Norris was said to have looked the young girls “dead in the eye” as he pleasured himself.
But the statement by Ringwood Police failed to include any concrete indication of whether Norris was male or female, with the verbiage using gender neutral pronouns. Subsequent media reports described Norris as a “woman” or as “female.”
Reduxx was first to contact Ringwood Police and receive clarification that Norris simply “identified as a woman.”
During the trial, Prosecuting attorney Charles Gabb, referring to Norris as a woman, told the court: “The defendant, Miss Norris, now transitioning, she has a penis, was standing there fully naked, on the first day almost glorifying in that nudity over quite a period of time knowing the girls were there and drawing attention to herself.”
He continued: “And the next day when she saw them again and she was naked, glorying in her nudity, almost posturing, definitely manipulating her penis with these two young girls being able to see all this. The Crown would suggest there was no attempt to cover up, no attempts of any modesty or propriety.”
One of the girls told of how she responded when she saw him naked again the following day: “I shouted out ‘can you please stop that? We are underage,’ but he carried on which made us very uncomfortable.”
She went on to describe Norris manipulating his penis in front of them, and added: “It was like he was trying to make us watch.”
The girl said that even after they had tried to move away, Norris had walked over to another window as she moved so he could continue leering at them.
“I felt really anxious,” she said. “I felt a bit unsafe because he was trying to look at us at all times.”
Norris was described as wearing a pink and leopard-print top and red lipstick when he appeared in court in January. Jurors were informed that he was “in the course” of a “gender transition” and preferred to be referred to by “she/her” pronouns.
In his defense, Norris told police that he was a “naturist” and “enjoyed being naked in [his] own home” while denying sexually pleasuring himself in front of the two children. In January, he was cleared of charges relating to the two instances of indecent exposure.
Reporting on Norris’ arrest in August, Portsmouth News referred to him as “female” and a “woman,” prompting criticism from some individuals on social media.
