Police officer given 12 years for 'bestial' rapes of two women

A police inspector was sentenced to 12 years yesterday for "bestial" rapes which left his two victims so depressed that they tried to kill themselves.

The judge, Lord Dawson, said it was impossible to describe the revulsion felt for Adam Carruthers, who had used his position to earn his victims' trust. He said Carruthers, 38, was a "total disgrace" to the Dumfries and Galloway police force.

Carruthers, of Penpont in Dumfries, was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow last month of raping and indecently assaulting the women. He showed no emotion as he left the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh after Lord Dawson told him the violent attacks were "bestial and degrading".

The judge reminded Carruthers that he had attacked one woman, known as Mrs X, on her sick bed, after she had tried to commit suicide because of his abuse. He had first attacked her in 1993 when he called at her home to investigate a complaint against her neighbours. After that visit he returned on several occasions and forced her to have sex.

Carruthers began the abuse against Mrs Y, aged 43, in June 1993, soon after she became friendly with him and his wife. He made suggestive remarks and attempted to touch her on various occasions, culminating in a brutal rape at her home in October 1996, in which he assaulted her with a police baton. She threatened to report the attack but he told her that she would not be believed.

The judge said: "You raped two women where they were entitled to feel safe and secure. Both were in utter desperation and tried to take their lives."

Carruthers had denied the allegations, and said the women had fabricated their stories.