Trans woman charged with rape dies before court date

A transgender woman who was due to appear in court charged with the rape and sexual assault of children has died.

News of the death of Maddison Wilson, who was born male but identified as a woman, was given in Southampton Crown Court ahead of a plea hearing she was due to attend on Wednesday.

The prosecutor told the judge Ms Wilson, who was 37, was "deceased" and a coroner's court listing stated she died on 14 February.

A spokeswoman for Hampshire Coroner's Office said the provisional cause of death was hanging.

Ms Wilson, of April Square, Portsmouth, had been due to face charges of rape of a girl under 13 and causing a girl aged five to engage in sexual activity - both of which were alleged to have taken place in Hull, in 2011.

She had also been charged with the sexual assault of a three-year-old boy and causing a boy, aged three, to engage in sexual activity - both of which were alleged to have taken place in Southampton in 2017 and 2020.

The court heard the charges would now be formally discontinued.

Her death has been listed at the Portsmouth Coroner's Court, which said she died in Southsea two days after she appeared at Southampton Magistrates' Court.

A full inquest has been listed to be heard on 20 January 2026.

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