Sandy Brindley has faced calls to resign from her role due to her support of Mridal Wadhwa who was chief executive at an Edinburgh rape service

JK Rowling has become a leading gender-critical voice in the trans debate (Image: Getty)

The under-fire boss of Rape Crisis Scotland has hit out at Harry Potter author JK Rowling as calls grow for her to resign. Sandy Brindley has come under increased pressure after a damning report was published about Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre and its former chief executive Mridal Wadhwa, who is a biological male.

Among those to call for her resignation was the Harry Potter author, who has been a key gender-critical voice in the trans debate. Brindley has now recounted when she first heard Rowling had called for her to go and the impact it has had on her.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, she said she is “never upset in front of my daughter” and when she told her Rowling wanted her to resign, her daughter responded: “That’s one of my favourite authors, Mummy.”

Brindley said she does not expect to be in her position next year but she would not quit due to the furore surrounding the Edinburgh Centre. She also claimed Rowling’s description of a meeting that took place in 2019 was “false”.

The summit was to discuss concerns over the presence of biological men at the service and it emerged during the meeting that a trans activist was in attendance. Victims are said they were blindsided by the move but Brindley said the official record contradicts that claim.

She added: “What recourse do I have? I’m a single parent that works for a charity. JK Rowling’s a billionaire. I have no recourse, so truth doesn’t matter.”

Sandy Brindley is head of Rape Crisis Scotland (Image: PA)
Asked what a woman is, she said: “I recognise that trans women are women, but I also recognise that there are circumstances where biology matters. I believe with good faith and nuance, we can navigate that without causing harm.

“Even if we recognise trans women are women, that doesn’t mean that we don’t recognise that trans women’s needs and the needs of women who are born women at times may not necessarily be the same in terms of the service they require.”

It comes as Brindley was accused of “weaponising” rape victims after she offered journalists the phone numbers of survivors. She was asked to comment on the publication of a report into the conduct of Wadhwa, who has also been the subject of heavy criticism in an employment tribunal of former ERCC employee Roz Adams, who was forced out because of her gender critical views.

Mridul Wadhwa quit her role at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (Image: Screengrab/My Genderation)
The Sunday Mail has reported that Brindley told them: “If you do want the numbers of some rape survivors let me know.”. The mother of a 14-year-old who was gang raped has hit out at the move.

She said: “I am furious and so upset. How dare she try and use rape survivors who support her to keep her in a job? What about the people who feel let down by the service?

“My daughter was raped. To get access to all services she needed we went to the rape crisis centre. I asked if it was all women? The lady wouldn’t give a straight answer so I just left.”

The woman said she was at the meeting involving other rape survivors in 2019 and appeared to back up Rowling’s claims. The mum said: “It was awful. There was lots of silences when we asked about all-female services. It became clear she believed all women and all female meant trans-identified male.

“To make things worse, another person there, who we intially thought was a rape survivor was a trans activist who started to berate us. I am not sure Sandy Brindley understands how devastated I was.”

Brindley previously said the Rape Crisis service had been “weaponised”. But Trina Budge from For Women Scotland said: “If there is any ‘weaponising’ being done, it is Sandy Brindley doing the wielding, attacking those survivors who have been harmed by the significant failings in Rape Crisis Scotland and the manipulative use of others by offering up their phone numbers in a misguided attempt to save her own skin.

“Putting a male trans activist in charge of a rape centre and dismantling women-only services was always going to end in disaster.”

The Sunday Mail reports that it contacted Brindley before the publication of a report which concluded Wadhwa, a former SNP council candidate, “did not understand the limits on her role’s authority, (or) when to refer decisions to trustees”. She had previously come under fire for appearing to suggest rape victims who did not want to be supported by biological men were bigots.