Luke Ford: Actor who claimed he was ‘Brad Pitt body double’ jailed for rapes – including secretly not using condom

Published

6 months ago

December 18, 2024

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An actor – who claimed he stood in as a body double for Brad Pitt – has been jailed for 16 years for a string of sex attacks, including rape for secretly not using a condom during sex.

The prosecution is the first in Scotland for “stealthing” – where a condom is removed or not used without a partner’s knowledge.

Luke Ford, 35, denied any wrongdoing but was last year found guilty of a spate of offences following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

He was convicted of 19 charges of abusing nine female partners, including raping six of them and the attempted rape of another.

Jurors heard how he terrorised his victims over a 12-year period between 2008 and 2020, subjecting them to physical, mental and sexual abuse.

Ford was said to be a jobbing actor and model who appeared in a pop video by Deacon Blue and claimed he was a stand-in for Brad Pitt on the 2013 film World War Z, part of which was shot in Glasgow.

His trial heard how he preyed on women on dating apps, first showering them with affection before financially exploiting, controlling and abusing them.

‘I felt completely violated’

In the “stealthing” case, Ford was said to have met a woman via Tinder in 2017 and after a few dates they discussed having sex.

The woman messaged Ford stipulating that he use protection because she did not want to risk pregnancy, to which he reportedly replied: “Good idea.”

While in bed, the woman handed him a condom but he later admitted that he had not used it.

She told the court: “I was shocked and upset. I would not have had sex with him without a condom. I asked him to leave. I felt completely violated.”

When she confronted him the next day with the concern that she could be pregnant, he dismissed her as “paranoid”, saying that it was “no big deal” and to take the morning-after pill.

He reportedly texted: “Just get the pill and if you are pregnant get rid of it.”

Violent attacks and intimate videos

Ford was also convicted of a number of assaults, including strangling, smashing one partner’s head off a car window, and slapping another hard across the face.

He also took intimate videos and photographs of partners, often covertly, and threatened to show them to their employers and family if they did not do as he wished.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said several victims described being isolated from their family and friends while under Ford’s abusive and controlling behaviour.

He was also convicted of possessing extreme pornographic images involving bestiality.

Could ‘seriously endanger’ women again

Ford, originally of Stirling, was sentenced by Lord Summers at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

The judge had deliberated on whether to impose an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR), but instead handed the accused a 21-year extended sentence, with 16 years in jail and five years on licence once released back into the community.

Lord Summers said he was dissuaded from imposing an OLR due to a number of reasons, including Ford’s lack of previous convictions and a “willingness to accept the wrongfulness” of his conduct.

The judge said: “While this is not a decisive factor, I consider that it indicates that you are gaining some insight into the true nature of your conduct rather than blaming the victims.”

Ford was also said to have voluntarily undertaken a series of educational programmes in prison designed to provide insight into his offending behaviour.

Lord Summers said he had “reason to think” Ford “may be amenable to change”.

However, the judge noted evidence showed that there is a “likelihood” on release he will “seriously endanger the public and specifically women”.

Lord Summers said any risk posed will be “best managed” by the extended sentence.

Ford was also placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and banned from contacting his victims.

‘Manipulative sexual predator’

Police Scotland’s Detective Inspector Steven Gray branded Ford a “manipulative sexual predator”.

Katrina Parkes, Scotland’s procurator fiscal for high court sexual offending, added: “Luke Ford is a serial offender who demonstrated no respect for the consent of his victims.

“He was prepared to use manipulation, force or threats to carry out his abuse. He showed disregard for the importance of consent between partners.

“I hope that the many victims in this troubling case find some relief in Ford being held accountable for his offending. I commend them for their courage and strength.”

UK

Yellow warning for thunderstorms issued for large parts of England and Wales

Published

7 hours ago

June 6, 2025

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Yellow warning for thunderstorms issued for large parts of England and Wales

A yellow warning for thunderstorms has been issued for large parts of England and Wales on Saturday.

The Met Office warning covers most of southern England, parts of the Midlands and most of south Wales between 9am until 6pm on Saturday.

People in the affected areas are being warned heavy showers and thunderstorms may lead to some disruption to transport services.

Find out the forecast for your area

Delays to train services are possible and some short-term losses of power are also likely.

The UK’s weather agency said 10 to 15mm of rain could fall in less than an hour, while some places could see 30 to 40mm of rain over several hours from successive showers and thunderstorms.

It has also warned of frequent lightning, hail and strong gusty winds.

Met Office Chief Meteorologist Dan Suri said most places in the warning areas will be hit by showers, although not all will see storms.

“In this case, it’s difficult to predict where exactly thunderstorms will hit because they are small and fast changing,” he said.

The wet weather comes days after the Met Office said the UK had its warmest spring on record – and its driest for 50 years.

Provisional figures showed spring temperatures surpassed the long-term average by 1.4C – with a mean temperature of 9.5C (49.1F). That beat the previous warmest spring recorded in 2024.

Temperature records were broken in all four nations in the UK – with 1.64C above the long-term average in Northern Ireland, 1.56C above average in Scotland, 1.39C in Wales and 1.35C in England.

In records dating back to 1884, the Met Office said eight of the 10 warmest springs had occurred since 2000 – and the three warmest had been since 2017, in a sign of the changing climate.

Conditions were also incredibly dry this spring, with an average of 128.2mm of rain falling in the UK across March, April and May – the lowest spring total since 1974, which saw 123.2mm.

UK

Body found in wooded area in search for missing teenager Cole Cooper

Published

8 hours ago

June 6, 2025

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Body found in wooded area in search for missing teenager Cole Cooper

A body has been found in the search for a teenager who went missing in early May.

Cole Cooper, 19, was last seen by a school friend on Wednesday 7 May, in the village of Longcroft near Falkirk, in central Scotland.

Mr Cooper was reported missing by his family on Friday 9 May.

Police Scotland said the body was discovered in a wooded area near Kilsyth Road in Banknock on Friday afternoon.

“Formal identification has yet to take place however the family of missing man Cole Cooper, 19, has been informed,” the force said in a statement. “Enquiries remain ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”

Speaking to Sky News Breakfast earlier this week, his brother Connor said their family felt “lost” and described his sibling’s disappearance as “hell… for all of us”.

He described him going missing as “very much out of character” and that “even if his brother wanted some space or alone time” he would have notified family or friends beforehand – and would never “put his younger siblings through this”.

His mother Wendy Stewart described the situation as “total heartache” and was afraid he may have been “picked up by a car” and come to harm.

“Is it actually happening?” she said. “I have been wanting to wake up and it’s just been a big nightmare.”

After police got involved in the search, they visited more than 220 properties and trawled through around 1,000 hours of CCTV footage in a bid to find Mr Cooper.

Specialist resources from across the country were mobilised, including a helicopter and drones from the air support unit, as well as officers from the dive and marine unit.

The force previously indicated there was no suggestion of any criminality.

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UK

Bargain Hunt expert Oghenochuko Ojiri jailed after failing to report sale of artworks to ‘Hezbollah financier’

Published

10 hours ago

June 6, 2025

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Bargain Hunt expert Oghenochuko Ojiri jailed after failing to report sale of artworks to 'Hezbollah financier'

An expert on TV show Bargain Hunt has been jailed for two and a half years after failing to report the sale of artworks to a man suspected of financing Hezbollah.

Oghenochuko Ojiri, who has also appeared on another BBC programme Antiques Road Trip, sold around £140,000 worth of art to Nazem Ahmad over a 14-month period between October 2020 and December 2021, the Old Bailey heard.

Art dealer Ojiri, 53, who is known as Ochuko, admitted eight counts in May of failing to make a disclosure during the course of business within the regulated sector, contrary to section 21A of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Lebanese businessman and diamond dealer Ahmad was described in court as a “prominent financier” for Hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist group in the UK.

Prosecutor Lyndon Harris said Ahmad has an extensive art collection worth tens of millions of pounds, including works by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, many of which are displayed in his penthouse in Beirut.

Ojiri, who owned the Ramp Gallery, which was later renamed the Ojiri Gallery, sent a message to a contact saying, “I can’t risk selling directly to him,” after Ahmad was sanctioned in the US, the court heard.

But Mr Harris said “that’s exactly what he did” when he sold artworks, which were sent to Dubai, the UAE and Beirut.

Ojiri’s barrister Kevin Irwin said he was arrested on 18 April 2023 in Wrexham while filming a BBC show and his “humiliation is complete” as he appeared for sentencing.

Ahmad was sanctioned on the same day in the UK and officers later seized artworks held in two warehouses in the country, including a Picasso and a Warhol, valued at almost £1m.

‘Shameful fall from grace’

Sentencing Ojiri to two years and six months in prison, with an additional year on extended licence, the judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, told him: “You knew about Ahmad’s suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by someone like him”.

She said Ojiri, from Brent, north London, viewed his offences as a “shameful fall from grace of a public personality and role model for those from an ethnic minority, in the arts and antique sector”.

“Your hard work, talent and charisma have brought you a great deal of success,” the judge said.

“You knew you shouldn’t be dealing with this man. I don’t accept you were naive, rather it benefitted you to close your eyes to what you believed he was.

“You knew it was your duty to alert the authorities but you elected to balance the financial profit and commercial success of your business against Ahmad’s dark side.”

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s counter terrorism command, said the prosecution was the “first of its kind” and should serve as a warning to art dealers.

“Oghenochuko Ojiri wilfully obscured the fact he knew he was selling artwork to Nazem Ahmad, someone who has been sanctioned by the UK and US treasury and described as a funder of the proscribed terrorist group Hezbollah,” he said.