The dating app rapist who faked his death and forged a new identity in Spain

Published

2 months ago

September 4, 2025

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“Do you recognise this guy?” I ask a Costa del Sol cafe owner as I show him an image of a bald, bearded bodybuilder from Scotland.

He raises his eyebrows and looks back with suspicion.

“I think he sometimes came for coffee,” he replies in broken English before the conversation is quickly shut down.

The bodybuilder is a familiar face in this part of the world – he lived here in the Spanish seaside town of Nerja for almost two years.

He is the fitness-fanatic, social butterfly expat Johnny Wilson. But the truth is, Johnny doesn’t exist.

The man behind the made-up name is the violent rapist James Clacher, who faked his own death in Scotland and set up a new life in Spain.

Nerja’s community feels bruised and conned by a serial sex offender who lived under their noses, undetected for so long.

The fake death

At the time of his disappearance in May 2022, Clacher was under investigation for two separate rapes of women he had met on dating app Tinder in 2019 and Bumble in 2020.

As police worked to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, a missing person poster was issued, describing Clacher as an athletic man who drives a Suzuki Swift.

It warned members of the public not to approach him.

Detectives had earlier discovered his car dumped next to Loch Long in Argyll and Bute. A suicide note was left in the vehicle, and messages had been sent suggesting he was no longer alive.

It had the look and feel of a suicide.

It was the perfect rural setting, with the rolling hills and very few people around, where a conman could slip away and hope to never be seen again.

The double life

Nerja is a small town with a population of around 22,000. It sits an hour’s drive from Malaga.

Off the beaten track, it’s tucked away at the foot of stunning mountain ranges and has the feel of a more authentic Spanish experience compared to its rivals like Marbella along the coast.

Accents on its beaches are from elsewhere in Spain and continental Europe, rather than a ‘Brits abroad’ vibe.

To learn how Clacher could slip into this community and create a bogus new identity while being a wanted man, I visit Nerja’s gym.

Workers tell me he trained there every day and describe a “nice man” who was perfectly pleasant, put people at ease and fitted right in.

I am pointed in the direction of a man called Matt, a British expat.

The pair became friends not long after “Johnny” arrived in Nerja. The relationship began with Johnny touting himself as a so-called nutritionist.

“He came highly recommended,” Matt says. “He was giving me nutritional help, and he said he was in the parachute regiment for ten years and came to Spain for a new start.

“He was a very, very nice guy, very charming, I became quite good friends with him. He invited me hiking with him, he invited me round to his house to eat.”

Asked if any of his new friend’s behaviour was suspicious, Matt says: “He gave no hint whatsoever. But looking back, whenever he sent a picture, he would never have his face visible.

“He was very careful about pictures. Whenever he took a picture, he obviously knew that he was being hunted, and he had to lay low, so he never showed his face.

“I only have one picture of him facing away from me looking up a mountain.”

Several people say Johnny had entered an 18-month relationship with a local woman who had no idea about his real identity or the sexual crimes he had committed on vulnerable women.

She is said to be traumatised by how events unfolded.

‘Johnny the gardener’

I get a tip off that Johnny was employed as a gardener at a local residential complex, and we’re told to speak to a man called Megel.

As he emerges from behind the shutters of a pool bar, Megel shakes his head and speaks to other guests in Spanish when I mention ‘Johnny the gardener’.

The atmosphere changes, and those present close ranks.

A member of staff confirms Johnny’s role on site before we are ushered off the premises.

Elsewhere, we discover he earned cash in hand running yoga classes on the beach in an attempt to stay off the books.

“This is the best place to be no one,” says local newspaper journalist Eugenio Cabezas, who has worked here for 20 years.

“If you have committed a crime, you can live here and nobody knows you. It is a good place to disappear.”

The tip-off

The Costa Del Sol has had a reputation over the years as somewhere big British crime bosses would come to hide.

James Clacher was no mafia gangster, but he played the system in Scotland and Spain.

That was until an anonymous person sent an email to Sky News with the title “James Clacher”.

The message, sent on 27 November 2023 at 11.16am, talked about reading news articles on the case.

It stated: “We believe we have seen this man in Nerja… he introduced himself as Jimmy, was Scottish and fit the description.”

The tip-off revealed conversations they had in the local gym and a timeline of three separate encounters or interactions over the space of almost a year.

The police investigation, which had come to a dead end, suddenly had its biggest lead yet.

The UK’s National Crime Agency, along with Spain’s Guardia Civil, went undercover and found their man.

They swooped while Clacher was hanging upside down on gym equipment on the very beach he had created a ‘safe space’ as a yoga instructor.

The moment was captured in dramatic body-cam footage by the Spanish police as the fugitive was tackled to the ground and led off in handcuffs.

Clacher was detained and eventually extradited back to Scotland.

‘He was a complete fantasist’

Matt, the man who thought he was friends with Johnny, speaks of his horror at learning his friendship was a lie.

“I was completely shocked. Completely stunned. I just couldn’t believe it”, he says.

“Being fooled like that by someone, it wasn’t just me. He fooled a lot of people here in Spain as well.

“I had a narrow escape. I am relieved I am away from that situation. He was a complete fantasist.”

The wider expat community in Nerja is shaken.

Pub landlady Cathy, who has lived here for 40 years, says the story was the talk of the town.

“People were stunned and surprised that this happened in our local community,” she says.

“Somebody who had obviously been living here with us which we had no idea about.

“We don’t have that very much here at all. It’s a very nice, safe, good area of Spain to be in.”

Clacher was detained in May 2024. He denied any wrongdoing when his trial began this August, but was found guilty by a jury.

During his trial, jurors heard how he was “very friendly and chatty” on his extradition flight back to Scotland.

He was said to have discussed how he staged his own death and told of how he “survived on berries and puddle water” while initially on the run.

Clacher claimed to have travelled from Loch Long to Inverness, then down the east coast of Scotland.

He was then said to have made his way to England before hiding in a truck to get into France.

Once in France, he then said he got his hands on a bike and cycled to Spain.

The Police Scotland officer Clacher spoke to on the flight home told the jury that Clacher revealed he had been fearful his face was becoming known locally in Nerja, so he considered building a kayak that he would paddle to Morocco.

UK

Donald Trump confirms he will sue the BBC over Panorama edit – despite broadcaster’s apology

Published

8 hours ago

November 15, 2025

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Donald Trump confirms he will sue the BBC over Panorama edit - despite broadcaster's apology

Donald Trump has said he will sue the BBC for between $1bn and $5bn over the editing of his speech on Panorama.

The US president confirmed he would be taking legal action against the broadcaster while on Air Force One overnight on Saturday.

“We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week,” he told reporters.

“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”

Mr Trump then told reporters he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend, and claimed “the people of the UK are very angry about what happened… because it shows the BBC is fake news”.

The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that an internal memo raised concerns about the BBC’s editing of a speech made by Mr Trump on 6 January 2021, just before a mob rioted at the US Capitol building, on its flagship late-night news programme.

The concerns regard clips spliced together from sections of the president’s speech to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell” in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election.

Following a backlash, both BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness resigned from their roles.

‘No basis for defamation claim’

On Thursday, the broadcaster officially apologised to the president and added that it was an “error of judgement” and the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.

A spokesperson said that “the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited,” but they also added that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.

Earlier this week, Mr Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn unless it apologised, retracted the clip, and compensated him.

Legal challenges

But legal experts have said that Mr Trump would face challenges taking the case to court in the UK or the US.

The deadline to bring the case to UK courts, where defamation damages rarely exceed £100,000 ($132,000), has already expired because the documentary aired in October 2024, which is more than one year.

Also because the documentary was not shown in the US, it would be hard to show that Americans thought less of the president because of a programme they could not watch.

Newsnight allegations

The BBC has said it was looking into fresh allegations, published in The Telegraph, that its Newsnight show also selectively edited footage of the same speech in a report broadcast in June 2022.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”

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UK

Banksy art theft lands burglar with 13-month prison sentence

Published

12 hours ago

November 14, 2025

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Banksy art theft lands burglar with 13-month prison sentence

A man has been given a 13-month prison sentence for stealing Banksy’s famous Girl With Balloon print from a London gallery.

Larry Fraser, 49, of Beckton, east London, was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to one count of non-residential burglary at Kingston Crown Court on 9 October.

The print, one of the street artist‘s most famous, was stolen from a gallery in New Cavendish Street in London at around 11pm on 8 September last year.

Fraser used a hammer to smash his way through a glass entrance door at the Grove Gallery before stealing the artwork, which was valued at £270,000.

He concealed his identity with a mask, hooded jacket and gloves, but the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad was able to identify him and track him to a location streets away.

He was also caught on CCTV loading the artwork into a van before fleeing the scene.

A second man, 54-year-old James Love, was accused of being the getaway driver in the burglary, but cleared of stealing the print.

Fraser was arrested at his home address on 10 September, within 48 hours of the burglary, and charged the next day.

Officers were able to recover the artwork after executing a warrant on the Isle of Dogs. It has now been returned to the gallery.

Fraser pleaded to the court that he was struggling with a historic drug debt and agreed to steal the work “under a degree of pressure and fear”.

He said he did not know what he would be stealing, nor its value, until the day of the offence.

Jeffrey Israel, defending, said Fraser lived with his mother as her principal carer, and had only managed to “break his cycle of drug addiction” after his last prison sentence.

He added that it “would take a bold advocate” to suggest that the value of the print had increased by the burglary, but insisted “that is probably the reality”.

Judge Anne Brown was unmoved, however, and said the offence was “simply too serious” for a suspended sentence.

“This is a brazen and serious non-domestic burglary,” she said.

“Whilst you did not know the precise value of the print, you obviously understood it to be very valuable.”

She added: “Whilst I am sure there was a high degree of planning, this was not your plan.”

However, Fraser may be eligible for immediate release due to time spent on electronic curfew.

Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “Banksy’s Girl With Balloon is known across the world – and we reacted immediately to not just bring Fraser to justice but also reunite the artwork with the gallery.

“The speed at which this took place is a testament to the tireless work of the flying squad officers – in total it took just four days for normality to be restored.”

The 2004 artwork was part of a £1.5m collection of 13 Banksy pieces at the gallery.

Gallery manager, Lindor Mehmetaj, said it was “remarkable” for the piece to have been recovered after the theft.

The 29-year-old said: “I was completely, completely shocked, but in a very, very positive way when the Flying Squad showed me the actual artwork.

“It’s very hard to put into words, the weight that comes off your shoulders.”

UK

‘Incredibly dangerous’ sex offender Chao Xu jailed – as police say there could be hundreds more victims

Published

12 hours ago

November 14, 2025

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'Incredibly dangerous' sex offender Chao Xu jailed - as police say there could be hundreds more victims

An “incredibly dangerous” sex offender who drugged his victims and installed spy cameras around his home has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years – as police appeal for hundreds more potential victims to come forward.

Warning: This article contains details of sexual offences

Chinese national Chao Xu, 33, has been described by police as “one of the most prolific offenders ever uncovered” by the Metropolitan Police.

Xu, who was a law postgraduate student at the University of Greenwich in London between 2015 and 2016, ran his own recruitment business and targeted victims at networking events at his home.

He invented his “Spring of Life” cocktail, a mix of alcohols and Chinese herbal medicines, to sedate guests, and planted spy cameras in items including air fresheners, sanitary packaging and speakers.

Police found thousands of pictures and videos, with some showing unconscious or incapacitated victims in his flat in Greenwich, south-east London.

Xu, who is from China but is believed to have been living in the UK since 2013, also covertly filmed women on their daily commutes at stations such as London Bridge in so-called upskirting incidents.

He pleaded guilty to 24 sex offences between 2021 and 2025 at Woolwich Crown Court in August relating to six victims, with two charges relating to a seventh woman left to lie on file.

Xu admitted four counts of rape, eight counts of assault by penetration, four counts of sexual assault, four counts of voyeurism, two counts of administering a substance with intent and two counts of operating equipment beneath the clothing of another without consent (commonly known as upskirting).

‘Incredibly dangerous man’

His Honour Judge Christopher Grout described Xu as an “incredibly dangerous man” who “took great enjoyment” from his offending.

“Your behaviour was calculated and planned, evidenced by the covert recording systems you had set up in your flats and the fact you had incapacitated a number of your victims by drugging them.

“You betrayed the trust of a number of women who you befriended in the most appalling ways imaginable,” he added.

Could be hundreds of victims

Another 11 alleged victims have since come forward but the Metropolitan Police believe there are hundreds more in the UK and China, with offences committed in workplaces, public spaces and overseas.

Acting Detective Superintendent Lewis Sanderson described Xu as one of the “most prolific” offenders the force has ever investigated, adding that his “crimes were calculated, sustained, and devastating”.

Speaking outside the court on Friday, he said: “Chao Xu was a prolific and predatory sexual offender who committed some of the most cowardly and abhorrent crimes imaginable. His actions caused deep and lasting harm.”

“The number of victims of sexual assault, voyeurism and upskirting is believed to be in the hundreds. This includes individuals filmed without consent in Xu’s flat at his workplace and in public spaces.

“That is why today I’m making a direct appeal. If you believe you may have been a victim of Chao Xu, or if you have any information that could assist our investigation, please come forward. You will be listened to. You will be believed and you will be supported.”

He said all of the sexual assault victims were Chinese women, aged between 18 and 30, while the voyeurism victims are also young females but of different ethnicities.

He added that there will be women who may not know they are victims of his crimes, as they may have been drugged by Xu.

Detectives were alerted to Xu’s crimes after he held a networking event in Greenwich in June.

When one of the women who attended became unwell, Xu offered to let her stay, before raping her several times, the Metropolitan Police said.

They later found he had drugged her with substances known to cause drowsiness and incapacitation.

The case included six million messages on WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app, most of them in Mandarin, which all had to be checked with the help of a translator.