A self-styled lady of the manor is planning a legal battle against her local community council after it disbanded in an attempt to remove her.
At a meeting on Thursday it was unanimously decided to dissolve Ardgay and District Community Council in Sutherland.
However, moments later a petition was lodged for it to be reformed.
Samantha Kane – a member of the now dissolved community council – claims the move was fuelled by bias against her.
The landowner wants Scotland’s top court to declare the decision unlawful.
Ms Kane, who owns the 19-bedroom Carbisdale Castle in Culrain, Ardgay, claimed she was the victim of a discriminatory ‘lynch mob’ and claimed her human rights had been breached.
The barrister, who named herself Lady Carbisdale after buying the dilapidated property for £1.2million in 2022, is believed to be the only person in the UK to have changed gender three times.
After this week’s decision to dissolve the council, a furious Ms Kane vowed to fight the decision. She claimed: ‘The meeting was pre-determined with the sole purpose of getting me out, which is discriminatory and undemocratic.
Lady Samantha Kane who has changed gender three times, pictured at Carbisdale Castle
The barrister ploughed millions of pounds of her fortune into restoring Carbisdale Castle
A disbelieving Ms Kane at Thursday’s meeting. The barrister said she couldn’t put her case to the public meeting
‘I am petitioning the Outer House of the Court of Session to declare both the meeting which decided to put the motion and the public meeting last night unlawful. It was predetermined by bias against me.
‘My human rights have also been infringed by being deprived of representing the area as a councillor. I was not even allowed to put my case to the public meeting.
‘I have never seen such a lynch mob – all that was missing were the pitchforks.
‘A lot of the so-called public were not from the area and thus not eligible to vote. I believe that only 30 of those present were eligible to vote – out of a population of 800.’
Campaigners hope to reform the council without Ms Kane.
It comes amid ongoing skirmishes at the community council and a bitter row between Ms Kane and locals after she claimed the area was ‘not ready’ for a transgender custodian of the castle.
The latest move to disband the community council marks the second time it has been dissolved. It reformed in October after seven new members were elected – months after being dissolved by Highland Council when four of its five members quit.
The newly-elected community councillors had joined existing member Ms Kane, but at the body’s monthly meeting on April 17 a motion to dissolve the council was passed.
Also known as Lady Carbisdale, Samantha sits in front of a portrait of Mary Caroline, Duchess of Sutherland, for whom her stately castle home was built
Carbisdale Castle near Ardgay in the Scottish Highlands
Ms Kane looks out on the Highland countryside she now calls home. She sold off property in London to fund the refurbishments at Carbisdale Castle
The entrance to Carbisdale Castle, with its three-faced clock tower. It was reportedly designed that way deliberately to avoid giving ‘the time of day’ to its first owner’s husband’s son
One of the bedrooms at the £5million Carbisdale Castle, near Bonar Bridge in Sutherland
One of the grand rooms of Carbisdale Castle which has gone on the market for £5million
Ms Kane behind the bar at Carbisdale Castle. She was restoring it at a reported cost of £10million and plans to welcome paying guests
Samantha in a photoshoot at the age of 38 – prior to transitioning back to a man in 2004
Chairman Les Waugh said the community council had received written and verbal complaints about Ms Kane’s behaviour at meetings.
He has previously criticised her behaviour at meetings as ‘appalling’, and said: ‘She sometimes behaves like a six-year-old child who has been scolded, shouting at people, stamping her feet and banging her walking stick on the floor like a football hooligan.’
Thursday’s meeting was attended by 150 people, who voted unanimously for the move.
Born in Iraq as a male named Sam Hashimi, the barrister had surgery in 1997 to become Samantha, before a second operation in 2004 when she changed her name to Charles Kane, and then a third surgery to become Samantha again in 2018.
The wealthy barrister has ploughed millions into restoring 118-year-old Carbisdale Castle after fulfilling her dream of becoming a ‘princess in her own fairytale’ by buying the property.
