EXCLUSIVE: Trans activist on CPS ‘hate crime’ panel called Kemi Badenoch a ‘raging transphobe’ and thinks JK Rowling needs to be ‘taken down from the world’
- Eva Echo, from Birmingham, made the comments on her social media accounts
- It part of a scrutiny panel on in the West Midlands that is run by the CPS
A radical activist who is part of a CPS panel on tackling hate crime called equalities minister Kemi Badenoch a ‘raging transphobe’ and agreed JK Rowling should be ‘taken down from the world’, MailOnline can reveal.
Eva Echo, from Birmingham, made the comments on her social media accounts.
Since 2020 the transgender woman has been part of an invite-only scrutiny panel in the West Midlands that is run by the Crown Prosecution Service and chaired by the regional Chief Crown Prosecutor.
She claims on her LinkedIn profile that her presence on the panel lets her ‘challenge the current system in order to tackle procedural issues’.
But, in December last year, Ms Echo, who is also ‘director of innovation’ at the annual Birmingham Pride event, attacked Ms Badenoch on Twitter after the minister publicly criticised the Scottish Government’s gender recognition bill, which was later blocked by Downing Street.
Echoing the minister’s own choice of words, a screenshot shared with MailOnline appeared to show how she said: ‘Well, I’m disappointed that @KemiBadenoch is a raging transphobe… but here we are’.
Her remarks were condemned by feminist campaigner Maya Forstater and Toby Young, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union.
The activist’s involvement in the panel has come to light after revelations earlier this month showed how the CPS’s updated prosecuting guidelines could see parents charged with domestic abuse for refusing to pay for their child’s transgender treatment or not using their preferred pronoun.
A radical activist who has attended a CPS panel on tackling hate crime called equalities minister Kemi Badenoch a ‘raging transphobe’ and agreed JK Rowling should be ‘taken down from the world’, MailOnline can reveal. Eva Echo, from Birmingham, made the comments on her social media accounts
In December last year, Ms Echo attacked Ms Badenoch on Twitter after the minister publicly criticsed the Scottish Government’s gender recognition bill, which was later blocked by Downing Street. Echoing the minister’s own choice of words, screenshots shared with MailOnline appear to show how she said: ‘Well, I’m disappointed that @KemiBadenoch is a raging transphobe… but here we are’
In a separate exchange on Instagram, the campaigner also targeted Harry Potter author Ms Rowling, who has become a hate figure for some campaigners due to her views on women’s rights and transgender issues.
EXCLUSIVE Maya Forstater hits out at ‘ideologically captured’ CPS for guidelines stating parents could be charged with DOMESTIC ABUSE for refusing to pay for their child’s transgender treatment or not using their preferred pronoun
In response to a post calling for her to ‘shut the f*** up you f****** c***womble’, Ms Echo wrote: ‘Hahaha, love it!!’, according to the images shared with MailOnline.
Another user then said Ms Rowling ‘needs to be taken down from the world’, prompting Ms Echo to add: ‘Agreed. She claims to be saving women but in fact women need to be saved from her lies and harmful rhetoric’.
Reacting to Ms Echo’s posts, Ms Forstater claimed to MailOnline that the activist previously took to social media to accuse her of ‘making it up’ when her organisation Sex Matters commissioned polling showing a high level of support among women for maintaining single-sex services.
She also allegedly told Baroness Emma Nicholson, a former Tory MP who has previously spoken out in favour of women’s rights, to educate her ‘crusty privileged white-ass self.’
Ms Forstater, who this month won more than £100,000 in compensation from a think-tank that dropped her over her view that people cannot change their biological sex, said: ‘It is very concerning the CPS is allowing activists who don’t recognise that other people have human rights to sit on a panel about hate crime’.
She added: ‘The CPS must act, and be seen to act without fear or favour, and should not be part of the ideological war on women that Echo seems set on pursuing.
‘The CPS is a public body with a duty to improve relations between different groups, not inflame them by fanning the flames of a campaign of harassment and smears against the public and politicians.
‘If the CPS has not provided its panel with training on the “Forstater” case they should get going on it.
‘I would be happy to come and meet with the panel and the National Lead for Hate Crime.’
Mr Young told MailOnline: ‘The ideological capture of universities, museums, galleries and other cultural institutions by woke zealots is worrying enough, but for these same hard-left activists to have burrowed their way into the heart of our criminal justice system is deeply alarming.
‘It’s as if the cast of the Young Ones are now running the country, in spite of the Conservatives having been in power for the past 13 years.’
Ms Echo says on her LinkedIn account: ‘I am a member of the Crown Prosecution Service’s local scrutiny and involvement panel (LSIP) for hate crime.
In response to a post calling for Ms Rowling to ‘shut the f*** up you f****** c***womble’, Ms Echo wrote: ‘Hahaha, love it!!’, according to the images shared with MailOnline. In response to another comment on the post saying she ‘needs to be taken down from the world’, Ms Echo appears to have added: ‘Agreed. She claims to be saving women but in fact women need to be saved from her lies and harmful rhetoric’
Minister for Women and Equalities and International Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch is seen leaving Downing Street after a Cabinet meeting earlier this month
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has become a figure of hate for some campaigners due to her stance on transgender issues and women’s rights but remains hugely popular
‘Sitting on this panel of diverse people, I have the chance to not only review historical cases and prosecutions for the purposes of identifying potential change but to also challenge the current system in order to tackle procedural issues whilst representing the views and lived experiences of trans people.
‘Being part of this panel allows me to scrutinise all 5 strands of hate crime, especially as there is nearly always intersectionality involved.’
Ms Echo was given the ‘Unsung Hero of the Year 2022’ gong at the annual DIVA Awards, which are held to celebrate ‘the achievements of LGBTQIA women and non-binary people – and their allies – across business, the media and politics.’
She previously documented how her decision to transition to being a woman strengthened her marriage.
Describing the Local Scrutiny and Involvement Panel that Ms Echo sits on, the CPS themselves say on their website: ‘Our aim is to inform, listen, work with and in turn, be informed by those living and working across the West Midlands region.’
The panels exist in regions across the UK.
In a foreword to the CPS’s ‘Inclusion and Community Engagement Strategy’, Director Public Prosecutions Max Hill and chief executive Rebecca Lawrence say that they ‘allow community-based stakeholder groups to review our casework and ask questions about our decision making.’
They add: ‘We’re proud to lead an organisation that is compassionate, transparent, and willing to listen to the concerns of those we serve.
‘We both have a strong, personal commitment to making sure we understand the context of our decision-making and the impacts those decisions have on the people they affect.’
When asked about Ms Echo’s activity on social media, a CPS spokesman said: ‘Listening to the needs and concerns of the public is vital to ensuring our decision-making responds to the communities we serve and stands up to check and challenge.
‘Our public engagement groups enable us to hear directly from our communities and help us understand their concerns in order to deliver justice for all.’
They added that they continually review memberships of various panel groups but did not say if Ms Echo’s position will be reviewed in light of her comments on social media.
When approached by MailOnline, Ms Echo stressed that she does not advise the CPS in matters of policy but otherwise declined to comment.
Earlier this month, Ms Forstater claimed the CPS’s updated prosecuting guidelines showed how the CPS has been ‘ideologically captured’.
Updated legal guidance for prosecutors that was quietly published by the Crown Prosecution service last year includes a list of examples of abuse of ‘trans and non-binary victims’.
One is ‘withholding money for transitioning’, while another is ‘refusing to use their preferred name or pronoun.’
A third adds: ‘Body shaming or criticising the victim for not being ‘a real man/woman’ if they have not undergone reassignment surgery.’
The guidance could conceivably apply to wives ‘abusing’ their transgender husbands or vice versa, or even children referring to their parents as ‘mum’ or ‘dad’ if they have transitioned.
When approached by MailOnline, Ms Echo stressed that she does not advise the CPS in matters of policy
Ms Forstater, said: ‘Parents of children who identify as transgender should not be seen as abusers if they do not affirm their child as being “born in the wrong body.”
Although the guidance was updated more than a year ago, it was noticed by Mumsnet users last week.
A press release put out by the CPS in April last year made no reference to the new passage on transgender and non-binary people
The guidance was introduced to ‘reflect changes brought in by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021’, according to the CPS.
As a result of a consultation on the document, the CPS updated it in December and announced that children affected by domestic abuse would automatically be treated as victims, ‘regardless of whether they were present during violent incidents.’
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