Pride Group Founder Who Vilified J.K. Rowling For Defending Women Convicted Of Child Rape

Stephen Ireland, who has repeatedly attacked J.K. Rowling online for her pro-woman and anti-trans stances, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday for raping a 12-year-old boy.

Ireland co-founded the pro-LGBT UK-based group Surrey Pride in 2018, and since then, has used his position to lash out at the “Harry Potter” author, labeling her a TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) for advocating that women must be protected from biological men taking over their spaces.

“How to ruin a legacy… Become a TERF!” he wrote in a 2020 X post shared by J.K. Rowling on Monday. “Very disappointing JK!”

Another post from 2020 read, “The sorting hat has decided… @JK_Rowling ‘House of TERF.’”

Ireland, 41, raped the child at a flat in Addlestone, a town about 18 miles from London, after messaging him on Grindr, a dating app for gay men. The victim told police they had sex in the flat, smoked methamphetamine, and watched pornography, according to the BBC.

The child initially lied to Ireland about his age, saying he was 17 before later claiming he was 13.

“OK – we just have to keep it a secret,” Ireland said when the child told him this, and later asked if he would do it again with his flatmate, David Sutton, who was a Surrey Pride volunteer.

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Ireland and Sutton were both found guilty of a string of sexual crimes against children, including voyeurism, arranging commission of a child sex offense, and “possession and distribution of prohibited images of children.”

On Monday, Judge Patricia Lees said that Ireland “took advantage” of the 12-year-old boy.

“Far from finding that repugnant, you found that exciting, and sought to do it again,” she said.
Ireland was sentenced to 24 years for the rape, as well as a further 6 years on “extended license,” often part of an extended sentence for offenders deemed a significant risk to the public. Sutton was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for making inappropriate images of children and the possession of an extreme pornographic image.

After enduring much online abuse from Ireland, Rowling weighed in on the sentencing in an X post.

Stephen Ireland, who targeted me with endless abuse on here because I oppose the chemical castration of children and the removal of protected spaces for women and girls, has just been sentenced to 30 years in jail for child rape. pic.twitter.com/0HHctRocB4

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 30, 2025

“Stephen Ireland, who targeted me with endless abuse on here because I oppose the chemical castration of children and the removal of protected spaces for women and girls, has just been sentenced to 30 years in jail for child rape,” she wrote.