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Glasgow Trial Hears How Accused Rapist James Clacher Faked Death Before Two-Year Flight to Spain

Police evidence described a staged disappearance that led to a two-year evasion ending with arrest in Spain.

Overview

  • Jurors were shown Civil Guard footage of Clacher’s arrest on a Nerja beach in May 2024, followed by extradition the next month.
  • Police testified his car was found at a Loch Long car park on May 31, 2022 with a handwritten suicide note, his driving licence and cut-up bank cards.
  • The court heard he is accused of raping two women in Troon in 2019 and Glasgow in 2020, to which he has pleaded not guilty with a special defence of consent.
  • A detective said Clacher claimed he survived on berries and puddle water and described travelling through Scotland and England, hiding in a lorry to reach France and then moving on to Spain.
  • Jurors were told £5,500 was withdrawn from a business account the day before he vanished, with his father denying he made the withdrawals.