A rapist who staged his own death and fled the UK has been brought to justice – with help from a tip-off sent to Sky News.
James Clacher, 57, has been found guilty of the violent rape of two women following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
The former gym boss disappeared in May 2022 while facing the charges.
Jurors heard how he abandoned his Suzuki Swift at the Loch Long car park and picnic area in Argyll and Bute, and left a suicide note intimating he intended to take his own life.
He blamed his first victim, stating that she “will never stop until I’m dead or I’m in prison”.
Read more: How dating app rapist forged a new identity in Spain
In November 2023, Sky News received a tip-off from a reader in response to a Police Scotland appeal in the hunt for Clacher.
The information passed on to the force pinpointed the fugitive’s location to the southern Spanish town of Nerja, right down to the Time Sport gym he frequented.
Six months later, and almost two years to the day he vanished, Clacher was arrested by the Spanish Civil Guard while working out on a beach in the Costa del Sol town.
He reportedly told a police officer on his extradition flight back to Scotland that he “survived on berries and puddle water” in the wild while initially on the run.
Clacher’s first victim wished to thank the Sky News reader for coming forward with the information that led to his capture.
She said: “I am extremely grateful that they were brave enough to come forward because that must have been extremely daunting for them.
“This is what I’ve dreamed of. I knew that he wasn’t dead. I did everything in my power, I made it my life’s mission to ensure that he was found.
“This meant everything to me, to know that he was captured and couldn’t hurt anyone else.
“It was the most powerful thing ever, for me, when I heard that he was caught.”
Sky News visited Nerja ahead of Clacher’s trial.
Clacher, who went by the alias “Johnny Wilson”, was said to have been in a relationship with a local woman, was employed as a gardener at a residential complex, and earned extra cash by running yoga classes on the beach.
Matt, a British expat, told Sky News’ Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies that he struck up a friendship with Clacher – who touted himself as a fellow expat and nutritionist.
The pair would go hiking, with Clacher carefully hiding his face from any pictures taken.
After learning their friendship was a lie, Matt said: “I was completely shocked. Completely stunned. I just couldn’t believe it.
“Being fooled like that by someone, it wasn’t just me. He fooled a lot of people here in Spain as well.
“I had a narrow escape. I am relieved I am away from that situation. He was a complete fantasist.”
The fugitive’s capture and extradition back to the UK in 2024 came following an investigation between Police Scotland, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Civil Guard’s elite central operative unit (UCO).
Clacher, from North Lanarkshire, went on trial last week. He denied any wrongdoing and lodged a special defence, claiming any sex was consensual.
Jurors heard how he raped his first victim at her home in Troon, South Ayrshire, on 24 August 2019.
Giving evidence, the woman told of how she was attacked within 15 minutes of meeting Clacher for the first time.
The woman said moments after telling her Tinder date to “make himself comfortable” while she finished getting ready for their night out, she was pushed against a wall and brutally assaulted.
She was then further abused after being led upstairs while in a state of “shock”.
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A second woman told of how she was raped at her flat in Glasgow on 4 September 2020.
The pair, who had matched on dating app Bumble, had earlier collected a takeaway from Nando’s before Clacher drove them to Irvine Beach in Ayrshire, where they ate in the car, talked, and took a walk on the beach.
They then returned to the woman’s house to watch a movie, where she was assaulted.
Giving evidence, the victim said she consented to “kissing and hugging” during their date but did not consent to any other sexual activity.
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During the trial, the court also heard evidence from two other women who claimed Clacher inappropriately touched them without their consent at Church Gym Wellness and Fitness Centre in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire.
Clacher went on the run after learning he was to be interviewed by police over the two historical sexual offence allegations that were made after the rape charges came to light.
Advocate depute Catriona MacLeod accused him of fleeing the country because “the net was tightening”.
The prosecutor highlighted many of the lies he told, including knocking 10 years off his age on Tinder and Bumble, lying about his surname to his first victim, and lying about the timing of his brother dying.
She stated: “You told lie upon lie, so many lies. What are you not lying about?”
Jurors today returned guilty verdicts to the two separate rape charges.
Clacher will be sentenced on 1 October.
