Overview

• James Clacher, 57, was convicted last month of two rapes in 2019 and 2020 after meeting the women on dating apps and attacking them in their homes.
• He was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh to eight years in prison plus a two‑year extended supervision period, with the term backdated to his arrest in Spain in May 2024.
• He is banned from contacting the victims for 10 years and will remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely, according to reports.
• Clacher vanished in May 2022 while facing charges, abandoning his car at Loch Long with a suicide note to mislead police before fleeing abroad.
• He was traced to Nerja on the Costa del Sol, arrested by the Spanish Civil Guard during a workout, extradited to Scotland, and rebuked by the judge for a “cowardly” attempt to evade justice.