Rapist police officer accused of earlier attack - but case was dropped

A police officer jailed for raping two women was first accused of sexual assault 12 years ago, but the case was abandoned before going to trial.

Cameron Ross was jailed for 10 years on Thursday for attacking the women and subjecting a third to years of violent abuse.

But it has since emerged that he was able to continue working as a police officer for six years after he was cleared of an earlier rape allegation.

Ross, 39, was suspended by Police Scotland in 2014 when a woman alleged he had raped her on the Isle of Lewis.

After reviewing the evidence, prosecutors dropped the case in 2016, reportedly the day before Ross was due to face a jury.

An internal disciplinary process subsequently exonerated the officer and he was reinstated by the force.

The Press and Journal newspaper has reported that the woman who made the allegation feels she has been "denied justice".

She told the paper she "would never get closure", because of how Police Scotland handled the original inquiry.

Ross was suspended a second time in June 2022, after another woman complained he had physically abused her.

An investigation uncovered further allegations against the father-of-two.

Two women told detectives he had raped them in Stornoway in 2012 and 2014.

One of the women said Ross had attacked her after they met at a party on Lewis between August and October 2012.

She said Ross pinned her to a bed before carrying out the attack, leaving her traumatised.

The second woman said Ross had sat on her and restrained her before raping her in June 2014.

He subjected a third woman to a course of abusive behaviour between October 2019 and June 2022 in Inverness.

Ross went on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in May. He resigned from the force after he was found guilty last month.

But the original rape claim made in 2014 could form no part of the case against him, because of a commitment given by prosecutors when they dropped the charges.

The court heard they had made "an irrevocable renunciation" of their right to prosecute Ross over that incident.

Police Scotland said it contacted the woman in 2017 in response to a complaint made about its investigation.

In a statement, Chief Supt Helen Harrison said the force apologised for "for failings in communication" around the case.

She added: "The handling of that complaint was subject of review by the Police Investigations Review Commissioner (Pirc) in 2019 which found three of the four complaints were handled to a reasonable standard and made recommendations for further inquiry into one complaint.

"We acknowledged Pirc's recommendation for further enquiry relating to one upheld complaint. Upon competition of this inquiry, we updated the complainer and Pirc to its outcome in 2020."

The Crown Office has been approached for comment.