Police officer who raped two women and abused a third jailed for 10 years

A police officer who raped two women and subjected a third to a campaign of abuse has been jailed for 10 years.

Cameron Ross carried out attacks in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in 2012 and 2014, before abusing another woman in Inverness between 2019 and 2022.

Ross, 39, was suspended from Police Scotland in June 2022, after the allegations were reported to the force, and he resigned last month. Judge Alison Stirling said custody was the only option due to the serious nature of the offending.

He had denied the charges but was found guilty by a jury during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in May.

The judge told Ross: "The reasons for the sentence include punishment and deterrence.

"It is also to to show society's concern and disapproval for your offending."

Following sentencing, Ch Supt Helen Harrison, head of professional standards at Police Scotland, said the force "worked closely with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to achieve this outcome".

She added: "Ross was a serving officer at the time of these offences and when the report was received in June 2022 we immediately suspended him.

"He has since resigned from the service. If he had remained, we would have progressed gross misconduct proceedings and he would have been dismissed as his actions and behaviour will not be tolerated in Police Scotland.

"I want to thank those who came forward and recognise how difficult that can be when the perpetrator is a police officer."

During the trial, the court heard how Ross raped the first woman after they met at a party on Lewis between August and October 2012.

The woman told the court how Ross "pinned her down to a bed" before carrying out the attack.

She said the incident had left her traumatised.

A second woman told the trial Ross had sat on her and restrained her before raping her in June 2014.

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

In evidence, the court was told Ross threatened to kill the woman, repeatedly pushed and pulled her, threw her to the ground and brandished a knife at her.

Ross was also convicted of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner on 5 June 2022 at an address in Inverness, where he shouted, swore and acted aggressively.

He later attempted to pervert the course of justice on that date by trying to speak to a woman who was providing a witness statement to an officer.

The allegations were only made public in January 2024 - a year and a half after Ross was reported to Police Scotland.

He was arrested and charged with sexual and communications offences in June 2022. He was released on an undertaking to appear in court that same month.

Ross has now been placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Faye Cook, of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said Ross had carried out "deliberate and repeated acts of abuse against women over the course of a decade".

She added: "This was sustained offending, which caused significant harm.

"As a police officer, he was in a position of trust. Instead of upholding the law, he chose to break it in a serious and persistent way.

"I would urge anyone affected by similar offending to come forward and report it.

"The Crown is committed to prosecuting those responsible for sexual and domestic abuse, regardless of who they are."

Rape Crisis Scotland chief executive Alev Taylor said the police are "not immune" to having perpetrators in their ranks.

She said: "Choosing to report rape or domestic abuse is always a difficult decision, but it can be even more challenging in rural communities and when the perpetrator is a serving police officer.

"The way that the police respond to complaints of sexual violence and domestic abuse plays a huge part in whether survivors and the wider public trust them – even more so when the complaint is against someone who works in the police themselves."