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A sexual assault support charity says it is “deeply disappointed” over a football club’s decision to field rapist David Goodwillie.

Goodwillie was included in the Glasgow United FC team to play in a friendly match against West of Scotland Premier Division side Pollok last week.

Rape Crisis Scotland criticised Glasgow United FC and branded the move a “bad decision that sends entirely the wrong message”.

A spokesperson from the charity told Sky News: “We are deeply disappointed that Glasgow United FC appear to be happy to send such a clear message of disregard to survivors of rape and sexual violence.

“Fundamentally – women’s lives are more important than men’s talent or careers.

“Footballers are role models – particularly for young people – and it’s not okay to have someone in this position who has been found by a senior judge to be a rapist.”

Goodwillie and fellow footballer David Robertson were ruled to be rapists in a 2017 civil case.

The pair, who have never faced a criminal trial over the allegations, were ordered to pay £100,000 in damages after a judge ruled they raped a 30-year-old woman at a property in West Lothian following a night out in January 2011.

Goodwillie, 34, has seen several football club contracts collapse due to public outrage over the case, but was spotted playing for ninth-tier side Glasgow United FC in a friendly match last Wednesday.

A club spokesperson told BBC Scotland that Goodwillie “deserves a chance” and that he wants to be “left in peace and be allowed to play the game he loves”.

The Rape Crisis Scotland spokesperson added: “We wonder whether those who took this decision to select David Goodwillie for play last week considered how it may look or feel to survivors of sexual violence to have to watch somebody judged to have committed rape be celebrated and applauded.

“This was a bad decision that sends entirely the wrong message.”

Glasgow United FC was contacted for comment.

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Goodwillie is due to appear on James English’s Anything Goes podcast later on Wednesday.

It will be the first time he has spoken out since the 2017 ruling.

In a clip released online, Goodwillie said he has always been advised not to talk about the case and continued to claim it was consensual sex.

Highlighting there have been no criminal proceedings, he said: “I’m the same as her. Like, you know, I don’t feel like I’ve had justice.”

He added that due to the controversy, he has not been allowed to “take care” of his family.

Goodwillie, who has played for Dundee United, Aberdeen and Blackburn Rovers, was playing for English club Plymouth at the time of the civil court judgement and left “by mutual consent” just days after the ruling.

Two months later, in March 2017, he signed for Clyde despite fierce criticism of the club’s decision to give him a deal.

He played for the Cumbernauld-based club for almost five years, becoming club captain, before Raith moved to sign him in February last year.

Following widespread opposition to the move, Goodwillie was released from his contract without playing a match.

A year later Northern Premier League side Radcliffe responded to criticism by cancelling Goodwillie’s contract a day after he scored a hat-trick on his debut against Belper Town.

And just last month, Australian second-tier side FC Sorrento was forced to rescind a contract.

The club apologised to anyone “that may have been caused offence by his signing”.

Goodwillie subsequently opened a Twitter account after the FC Sorrento move was scrapped, vowing to “finally speak my truth”.

Rape Crisis Scotland support

  • If you need to talk to someone, the charity’s helpline is open from 5pm until midnight every evening on 08088 01 03 02
  • Webchat, email and text support is also available via rapecrisisscotland.org.uk

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Retired vicar involved in ‘Eunuch Maker’ extreme body modification ring jailed for three years

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Retired vicar involved in 'Eunuch Maker' extreme body modification ring jailed for three years

A retired Church of England vicar who was part of an extreme body modification ring run by man who called himself the Eunuch Maker has been jailed for three years.

Warning: The following article contains graphic details of extreme physical mutilation

Reverend Geoffrey Baulcomb, 79, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent after a nine-second video of him using nail scissors to perform a procedure on a man’s penis in January 2020 was found on his mobile phone.

He also admitted seven other charges, including possessing extreme pornography and making and distributing images of children on or before 14 December 2022.

Prosecutors said some of the material included moving images which had been on the eunuch maker website, run by 47-year-old Norwegian national Marius Gustavson.

Marius Gustavson
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Marius Gustavson

Gustavson was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years last year after a court heard he made almost £300,000 through his website, where thousands of users paid to watch procedures, including castrations.

Baulcomb was said to have been an “acquaintance” of Gustavson, and the pair exchanged more than 10,000 messages with each other over a four-year period.

He was formerly a vicar at St Mary the Virgin Church in Eastbourne but retired from full-time ministry in the Church of England in 2003.

The diocese of Chichester said he applied for “permission to officiate”, which allows clergy to officiate at church services in retirement, when he moved to Sussex the following year.

But Baulcomb was banned for life from exercising his Holy Orders following a tribunal last year, which heard he was issued with a caution after police found crystal meth and ketamine at his home in December 2022.

He had claimed experimenting with drugs or allowing his home in Eastbourne to be used for drug taking would “better enable him to relate and minister to people with difficulties as part of his pastoral care”.

The diocese said the Bishop of Chichester immediately removed his permission to officiate after being contacted by police, and bail conditions prevented him from attending church or entering Church of England premises.

‘Nullos’ subculture

The Old Bailey heard last year that extreme body modification is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos”, short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed.

Gustavson and nine other men have previously admitted their involvement in the eunuch maker ring, which one victim said had a “cult-like” atmosphere.

The life-changing surgeries, described as “little short of human butchery” by the sentencing judge, were carried out by people with no medical qualifications, who he had recruited.

Prosecutors said there was “clear evidence of cannibalism” as Gustavson – who had his own penis and nipple removed and leg frozen so it needed to be amputated – cooked testicles to eat in a salad.

Gustavson, who was said to have been involved in almost 30 procedures, pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm between 2016 and 2022.

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Labour plans to ‘overhaul broken asylum system’

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Labour plans to 'overhaul broken asylum system'

After a summer dominated by criticism over the small boats crisis and asylum hotels, Labour says it’s planning to overhaul the “broken” asylum system.

As MPs return to Westminster today, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will speak about the government’s success in tackling people smugglers and plans for border security reform.

August saw the lowest number of Channel crossings since 2019 - but the last year has the most on record. Pic: Reuters
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August saw the lowest number of Channel crossings since 2019 – but the last year has the most on record. Pic: Reuters

Labour hopes that the raft of changes being proposed will contribute to ending the use of asylum hotels, an issue which has led to widespread protests over the summer.

Ms Cooper will set out planned changes to the refugee family reunion process to give “greater fairness and balance”, and speak to the government’s promise to “smash the gangs” behind English Channel crossings.

National Crime Agency (NCA) figures show record levels of disruption of immigration crime networks in 2024/25. Officials believe this contributed to the lowest number of boats crossing the Channel in August since 2019.

But, despite the 3,567 arrivals in August being the lowest since 2021, when looking across the whole of 2025, the figure of 29,003 is the highest on record for this point in a year.

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Labour says actions to strengthen border security, increase returns and overhaul the asylum system, will result in “putting much stronger foundations in place so we can fix the chaos we inherited and end costly asylum hotels”.

In a message to Reform UK, which has promised mass deportations, and the Tories, who want to revive the Rwanda scheme, Ms Cooper will say: “These are complex challenges, and they require sustainable and workable solutions, not fantasy promises which can’t be delivered.”

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The town at boiling point over migration

While the home secretary will look back at the UK’s “proud record of giving sanctuary to those fleeing persecution”, she will argue the system “needs to be properly controlled and managed, so the rules are respected and enforced, and so governments, not criminal gangs, decide who comes to the UK”.

She will also give further details around measures announced over the summer, including the UK’s landmark returns deal with France, and update MPs on reforms to the asylum appeals process.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp dismissed Ms Cooper’s intervention as a “desperate distraction tactic”, reiterating record levels of illegal Channel crossings, the rise in the use of asylum hotels and the highest number of asylum claims in history in Labour’s first year.

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Richard Tice reveals how navy would deal with small boats

Sir Keir Starmer too, says he intends to “deliver change,” using a column in Monday’s Mirror to criticise the Tories and Reform UK for whipping up migrant hatred.

And the prime minister isn’t the only one to hit out at Reform UK’s flagship immigration plan, with the Archbishop of York accusing it of being an “isolationist, short-term kneejerk” approach, with no “long-term solutions”.

In response, Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the archbishop was “wrong” in his criticism.

Anti-asylum demonstrators in Epping, Essex. Pic: PA
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Anti-asylum demonstrators in Epping, Essex. Pic: PA

Mr Tice, who is the MP for Boston and Skegness, said he was a Christian who “enjoys” the church – but that the “role of the archbishop is not actually to interfere with international migration policies”.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal will hand down its full written judgment in the Bell Hotel case today, which saw Epping Forest District Council fail in an attempt to stop asylum seekers from being put up there.

Protests continued in Epping on Sunday night, with police arresting three people.

An anti-asylum demonstration also took place in Canary Wharf on Sunday, which saw a police officer punched in the face and in a separate incident, a child potentially affected by synthetic pepper spray.

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Murder investigation launched after man fatally stabbed in Luton

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Murder investigation launched after man fatally stabbed in Luton

A murder investigation has been launched after a man was fatally stabbed in Luton, Bedfordshire, on Sunday.

Police said officers were called to Humberstone Road just after 6pm after reports of an altercation involving two men and a woman.

A man in his 20s was taken to hospital with serious injuries but was pronounced dead shortly after.

Police are appealing for any further information, including doorbell, CCTV, or dashcam footage from the area around the time of the incident.

Superintendent Rachael Glendenning, from Bedfordshire Police, said: “This is an isolated incident, and we would ask the public not to speculate at this time.”

She said officers will be at the scene for a significant period while the investigation continues.

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