A transgender castle owner's neighbours have hit back at claims they are "not ready" to have a trans self-styled "lady of the manor".
Samantha Kane - born Sam Hashimi in Iraq, and thought to be the only person to have undergone gender reassignment surgery three times - bought Carbisdale Castle, near Bonar Bridge in Sutherland back in 2022.
But when "Lady Carbisdale" began erecting signs and fences stopping locals from walking on forest footpaths around the £1.2million estate, initially cordial relations with residents took a turn for the worse.
Kane, a barrister by trade, claims she has now put Carbisdale on the market for £5million after "hurtful" comments were made about her gender - and says the area "is not ready" for a transgender custodian of the castle.
Now, residents have opened up - hitting back at claims the lady of the manor is unwelcome and laying accusations at Kane's door.
Anne Henderson, 69, said: "We are a very welcoming and open community. We are happy to have anybody here... We have people of all persuasions who come and live here. We accept people at face value unless they prove themselves otherwise."
Henderson claims her family felt "threatened" by Kane, who reportedly turned up at her house after a meeting last November which saw her plans to buy up some public land turned down.
She said: "She presented herself at our farmhouse the next day and I invited her into the kitchen... She then proceeded to accuse us of ruining her business."
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Paul Whittock, who owns Ardgay Garage, tore into Kane's claims about the Highlands' apparent unreadiness for trans people as "absolute rubbish".
Whittock said: "It's got nothing to do with that whatsoever... I deal with a lot of people and I've never heard anyone say anything about that. It's got more to do with her behaviour - she wasn't doing anything for anybody, just herself!"
"When she came up it was all nicely, nicely, saying what a great place it was to live, and she mingled with the locals. But then she wanted to expand the area around the castle. That's when the cracks started to appear. She was doing all sorts of crazy things."
And more residents have slated the landowner for how she joined the community council "when she wanted plans put through" - then forcing the rest of its members to resign months later "en masse" on account of her "nasty" behaviour.
But Kane, as well as local councillor Michael Baird, has refuted the claims made by locals.
She said: "All of these people are obviously motivated by some sort of hate or jealousy or prejudice. It's complete lies and utter nonsense.
"I try my very, very hardest to renovate the castle - I offer jobs to the local community, I open up the castle for the local community. I have done everything in my power to be friendly and nice. But the castle is being disrespected. I am leaving the place and I am still being hounded by lies and nonsense."
Baird said there was an "element of truth" to what Kane was saying - and claimed the same "small community around the castle" had "hounded out" a previous developer nine years prior.
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