A double rapist who faked his own death and fled the UK intends to appeal his conviction.
James Clacher, 57, was brought to justice with help from a tip-off sent to Sky News which led police to his hideaway in Spain.
Following his extradition back to Scotland, the former gym boss was last month found guilty of the violent rape of two women after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
He was this month handed a 10-year extended sentence, with eight years in jail and two years on licence once released back into the community.
Clacher was additionally banned from contacting his victims for 10 years and was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
During sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Cubie highlighted the victim impact statements, describing the long-lasting effects of the rapes as “devastating” and having left the women “feeling broken”.
The judge added: “You continue to deny any wrongdoing, so there is limited insight, no remorse, and I consider a continuing risk of serious damage to others as a result of your attitude.”
‘Fascinating’ personal library of ‘forgotten scholar’ rediscovered
Murderer jailed for attacking Glasgow man with ‘napalm cocktail’ before stabbing him in heart
Man appears in court charged with murder after human remains found at Loch Lomond
On Thursday, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) told Sky News it had received an intimation of intention to appeal (IIA) against Clacher’s conviction.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Read more: How dating app rapist forged a new identity in Spain
Follow our channel and never miss an update
Clacher, from North Lanarkshire, denied any wrongdoing during his trial and claimed 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”.
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.
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 in May 2022 after learning he was to be interviewed by police over the two historical sexual offence allegations, which were reported after the rape charges came to light.
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, saying she “will never stop until I’m dead or I’m in prison”.
The woman later told Sky News: “It’s true, yes. I didn’t want him dead – I wanted him caught.”
Officers did not fall for Clacher’s fake suicide note and launched a major search, believing him to be wild camping in the surrounding hills.
In November 2023, Sky News received a tip-off from a reader in response to a Police Scotland appeal in the hunt for the wanted criminal.
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 after 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 initially, while on the run.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
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.
Lord Cubie said Clacher, a former army reservist, used his survival experience to try and escape the consequences of his behaviour.
The judge said: “Your flight abroad might be seen as a cowardly action. When you lost control of the consequences of your own conduct, you ran away.”
