Before I post this report from the London Evening Standard I would just like to say that I knew Sonia back in the early 80's when she came to me for electrolysis when I had my practice in London.  At that time I only knew her as David, but she became a friend as well as a client at that time.  She was a deeply caring person who dedicated her life to helping others who were often in dire circumstances and she became one of the leading authorities in her work as as a solicitor in the field of immigration and human rights.  The world is indeed, a poorer place without her presence.  RIP Sonia, you touched more hearts than you could ever had imagined.

Report from the London Evening Standard:
A respected solicitor was pushed under the wheels of a Tube train in front of horrified commuters by a transexual she had befriended, the Old Bailey heard today.

Sonia Burgess, who in her professional life was known as David, was herself a gender variant whose double life was well known to her family and friends.

The killer, Senthooran Kanagasingham, was then living as a woman and met Sonia at a bar, the jury was told.

At the time he was known as Nina and would spend hours at Ms Burgess's flat in Shaftesbury Avenue pouring out her troubles, the court heard. But their friendship became strained as Kanagasingham became increasingly "needy."

In October last year they spent 90 minutes together before he deliberately pushed his victim onto the tracks on the westbound Piccadilly line at Kings Cross.

Kanagasingham, 35 of Cricklewood, denies murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

His lawyers claim that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time. But Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the court the Crown rejected the claims and say the murder was deliberately planned.

David Burgess, 62, was a distinguished solicitor in immigration and human rights law and a partner in a successful practice in London.

But Mr Altman said that during the trial he would refer to the victim "as a woman because that is the wish of her family."

She was a "gender variant" who lived privately as a woman but had no desire to become one under "gender reassignment with all that entailed."

"But to all intents and purposes she lived her life outside the professional environment as a woman and as Sonia Burgess which everyone, including her children, accepted and embraced," said Mr Altman.

"A close friend states that physically Sonia presented as a good looking, very slim, middle aged woman."

Her 18-year marriage ended in divorce in 2005 but her three children were "justifiably proud and devoted" to their father.

She lived with a lodger and was a devout Catholic who attended St Martin in the Fields church where she was accepted as Sonia. The defendant was born in Sri Lanka and came to the UK in 2000.

At the time of the killing he was living as a woman, was known as Nina and wanted to "pass completely" as a woman.

But now he has reverted to his original name and wants to be known as a man. At first Sonia was wary of "Nina" whom she suspected was having hormone treatment as part of her transexual process which could make a person "volatile, over-emotional and unbalanced".

But as her new friend was homeless she became friendly. Her daughter considered Kanagasingham was "very quiet, stable, calm, pleasant and gentle" when they met in the summer of 2009 more than a year before the killing, the court heard.

But within a few months Sonia emailed her daughter that she was "wrestling" with her relationship with Kanagasingham., who startted to complain that her GP was refusing to prescribe more hormone therapy. The trial continues.

Story by: Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent of the London Evening Standard
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24020560-gender-variant-solicitor-pushed-under-train-by-transexual-friend.do