Police investigating new report over jailed Tinder rapist

James Clacher raped two women he met on dating apps

Police are investigating another allegation of serious sexual assault against a double rapist who faked his own death and fled to Spain.

Former gym boss James Clacher was jailed for eight years earlier this month after being convicted of attacking two women he met through dating apps.

The 57-year-old, from Airdrie in North Lanarkshire, went missing in 2022 and left a false suicide note - but was caught by police two years later on a beach on the Costa Del Sol.

Police Scotland said they had received "a report of a possible serious sexual assault in the Cambuslang area in 2017". The BBC understands this relates to Clacher.

The force said inquiries are at a very early stage.

Caught on beach

Clacher's trial heard how he was last seen in Airdrie in May 2022, before his car was found abandoned at Loch Long in Argyll.

He had left a note claiming he planned to end his life.

After Police Scotland issued public appeals to track him down, officers received an anonymous tip off that he was living in Nerja in Spain.

The Spanish Civil Guard released a dramatic video of his arrest in May 2024.

He was pinned down by officers while using gym equipment on a beach and extradited to Scotland to stand trial.

Lord Cubie said Clacher's "self-imposed exile" in Spain made the ordeal even worse for his victims.

The court heard how Clacher's first victim met him on the Tinder dating app.

She told how she was attacked within "10 to 15 minutes max" of him turning up at her home in Ayrshire in August 2019.

The woman said she was grabbed, pushed against a wall and sexually assaulted. He then forced her upstairs and raped her again in her bedroom.

Clacher also raped a second woman, who he had met on the Bumble app, at her home in Glasgow in September 2020.

They had gone for food and a walk on a beach before returning to her flat.

The woman said she took off her dress and Clacher removed some of his clothes, but she said she did not want to have sex with him.

She told the court she was "scared" as he grabbed one of her arms and was pinned against a couch as he attacked her.

She reported Clacher to the police which then led officers to the first victim.

Clacher had denied rape and claimed any sexual contact was consensual.

Det Insp Bruce Fyfe of Police Scotland said it was "difficult to comprehend the distress and suffering Clacher caused the women in this case".

He was sentenced to eight years in prison, with a further extended part of the sentence including two years on licence.

The sentence was backdated to the time of his arrest in Spain in May 2024.