An NHS nurse has revealed she was nearly headbutted by a transgender patient, who was a convicted paedophile, after a misgendering dispute at a London hospital.
Jennifer Melle described how the patient, who was allegedly shackled to two prison officers, flew into a rage upon hearing her use male pronouns during a telephone conversation with a doctor at St Helier Hospital.
The patient reportedly arrived on her ward for treatment but began behaving aggressively and threatening to leave, prompting Ms Melle to seek medical advice.
When the patient overheard Ms Melle referring to them as "he" and "mister", they allegedly began screaming that they were a "woman not a man".
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According to Ms Melle, this triggered an explosive reaction, with the patient shouting that they were a "woman not a man".
The situation is then said to have escalated dramatically, with the patient allegedly directing the n-word at Melle three times and threatening to report her to hospital management, The Times reports.
"The guards were finding it difficult to restrain him," Ms Melle recounted. "He nearly hit me with his head, actually."
Ms Melle, who has worked as a nurse for 12 years, was suspended after speaking to the press about her experience in March 2025.
Jennifer Melle has revealed she was nearly headbutted by a transgender patient during a misgendering incident
| Christian Legal CentreRecalling the incident, Ms Melle said it was a "horrible encounter”.
“I tried to collect myself because there were other patients we had to attend to, so I didn't want them to be frightened and just wanted to keep the ward calm.
“I said, 'Sorry, I can't refer to you as a woman it's against my faith. But I'm more than happy to refer to you by your name'."
Rather than calming the situation, this offer only intensified the patient's fury.
Ms Melle said she was also racially abused in the 'traumatic' encounter
| GB NewsThe patient strained against the chains connecting them to the prison officers and lunged towards Ms Melle.
She described the encounter as particularly frightening given the patient's physical presence.
"He was 6ft tall, very big and very broad," she said. "He was looking down on me. This was a man."
The day after the incident, a hospital manager telephoned Ms Melle to inform her that a complaint had been lodged for misgendering the patient, requiring an immediate statement.
"No one ever sat me down and said, 'OK, let's discuss what happened'," she said.
Following her transfer to a different ward, Ms Melle claimed she was prohibited from sharing a staff room with nurses in the unit where the trans patient had been readmitted.
"It was a very lonely and painful time," she remembered, describing how she often ate lunch alone on grass outside the hospital.
The pressure eventually forced her onto sick leave, and upon returning she discovered her position had been filled, requiring her to reapply and accept a lower nursing grade.
Jennifer Melle was suspended after speaking to the press about her experience in March 2025 | PA"I felt like I was going through torture," she said.
"It was so, so traumatising, especially when the NMC were writing back to me and calling me a danger to the public," Melle said. "It took a huge emotional toll on me. I was having panic attacks at home and my children were scared of me even going out alone. I was crying uncontrollably."
At a hearing on Tuesday, the trust made the unexpected decision to abandon all proceedings against Melle and restore her to clinical duties.
"I just felt so relieved," she said. "I was completely resigned to being sacked, so the turnaround was amazing."
An Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS spokesman told GB News: “Following an investigation into a breach of patient confidentiality, we are pleased that a member of staff who was previously suspended on full pay is being reinstated to clinical duties. Racial abuse of our staff will never be tolerated and we are sorry that she had this experience.”
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