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A mum has slammed a judge who described a 10-year sentence for her dating app rapist – who went on the run after faking his own death – as “excessive”.
Double rapist James Clacher was convicted last month of raping the mum, known as Elle, in August 2019, and another woman in September 2020, reports The Record.
In May 2022, while awaiting trial, the 57-year-old staged his own death and fled Scotland, before being found in Spain after two years and extradited.
The former gym boss, from Bellshill in Lanarkshire, was found guilty of the violent attacks on both women last month following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Sentencing him at the High Court in Edinburgh last week, Lord Cubie said he had considered the “powerful” victim impact statements from both women who had been left devastated and “feeling broken” by his actions.
He then went on to say: “Each charge, had it stood alone, would attract a sentence of at least five years and three months; I consider that adding these together would be excessive, so I propose to impose a custodial period of eight years imprisonment.”
Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Elle, 46, said: “Lord Cubie said each charge could have incurred more than a five-year sentence. Ten-and-a-half years in jail after raping two women, faking your death and then going on the run for two years is not excessive.
“Him going on the run has put our lives on hold and caused further unnecessary distress and delay to the justice process, which has not been considered in the sentencing.
“Being handed just eight years, knowing he could be out in five, is not justice given the fact he went off to start a new life and had no intention of coming back.
“The justice system is failing victims, they didn’t take into consideration that we have to wait an extra two years and nine months from the original trial date to see him face justice.”
Clacher vanished from Airdrie before his car was found beside Loch Long, Argyll, with an apparent suicide note. Two years later he was tracked down to Nerja, Costa del Sol, and arrested at a gym by the Spanish Civil Guard in May 2024. He had attacked Elle at her home in Troon, Ayrshire.
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He went on to rape a second woman he’d met on the Bumble app at her Glasgow home about a year later.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay MSP said: “Yet another rape victim has been left confused and angry by a weak system that prioritises the interests of dangerous criminals.” Clacher was not prosecuted for faking his own death.
The Judicial Office for Scotland said: “When deciding a sentence, members of the judiciary carefully consider the facts and take into account the unique factors of each case.”
