On April 12, 2022, a woman in crisis was admitted to the Eden Ward, the secure psychiatric unit at Lambeth Hospital in London. Because she identified as a man, she was placed in an all-male ward. Because she was obviously a woman, she was supposed to be under 1:1 observation for her own protection, but the unit was short staffed.
The trans-identifying woman was clocked almost immediately upon her arrival on the ward, and questioned by the other patients about her sex. Frightened by the attention, and perhaps realizing the danger she’d been placed in, she attempted to retreat into another room, but was followed by a man named Davointe Thomas, who held the victim down and raped her. While the assault was ongoing, a staff member walked into the room, witnessing Davointe Thomas with his pants down.
In spite of this, the NHS did everything in its power to cover up the assault, actively withholding vital records from law enforcement in spite of receiving more than 30 direct requests for information. As a result, the primary assailant, Davointe Thomas, was not interviewed by police until October of 2022, 6 months after the attack, and a second, innocent, patient was put on trial as an accomplice. The full extent of the cover up wasn’t revealed until the trial itself took place in May of 2026, at which point the alleged accomplice was cleared of all charges.
Davointe Thomas was convicted of rape, and has been given an indefinite hospital order by the judge. No NHS staff members or executives have been fired or forced to resign over the incident.