I think I know what, to me, doesn't add up about your criticism. It's not necessarily that you fail to appreciate the lurid beauty of British tabloid journalism: while I myself happen to love it, no one is obliged to, and it's not a particularly successful example of this genre in any case.
It's the distinction you make between subject matter and writing, because a story like this ("trans rapist of two mouths off on Harry Potter writer") could ONLY EVER appear in a tabloid. It's not a story The Telegraph or Guardian or Times would stoop to cover. There's no non-tabloid way of writing up something like this.
So my criticism of the article is that it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. You say "It reads like a fanfiction written by a 14 year old tumblr girl. 'The sexy blone told the dark-haired broody hunk...'" while the problem is that it doesn't. Not really. I'd love to read a description of what the trans rapist looks like, maybe even a gratuitous reference to this or that aspect of life in prison. This is where all the fun is.
And yet, oh and yet...
Just because a story represents lurid and cruel gawking at something that doesn't meet non-tabloid media's standards of newsworthiness doesn't mean that it cannot offer us a snapshot worth seeing. Does this particular story you took issue with open a window into the cruel and exploitative nature of tabloid media? Of course! Obviously! Does it tell us something about the social phenomenon in question (trans)? IMO yes it does.
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