FM apologises to Goodwillie rape victim, but no decision on prosecution

First Minister John Swinney apologises to Denise Clair in Holyrood.

First Minister John Swinney met David Goodwillie rape victim Denise Clair to personally apologise for adding to her trauma after the government unnecessarily stalled answering her plea to fund a private criminal prosecution.

Swinney personally assured Denise there would now be “impetus” behind getting her the answer after The Sunday Post blasted the government for making her wait a further eight months over her funding request for the first private prosecution in more than 150 years.

He told Denise: “I saw the media coverage you had at the weekend, and I wanted to tell you personally that I was sorry you have had to wait so long for an answer.

“Nobody should have to wait that long.

“However, I promise you that although I cannot tell you what the result will be, you will get an answer very soon now I have put some impetus behind it.

“It really shouldn’t have had to take media coverage for you to get an answer to something like this.”

Fight for justice

Denise has been fighting for justice for over 13 years ever since the Crown Office dropped rape charges against Goodwillie.

The devastated prison service education worker was forced to take the first ever civil action for rape against Goodwillie and his Dundee United team-mate, David Robertson, sensationally winning the verdict that she was a victim of premeditated rape on January 2 2011.

The first minister met Denise moments after being harangued by Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay during First Minister’s Questions. He told Parliament: “Frankly, this case stinks.”

He added: “No credible explanation has ever been given as to why the Crown Office did not prosecute.”

New laws on whether a victim was able to give consent, brought in to toughen up Scotland’s appalling rape conviction record, should have been showcased after Denise was found to have a potentially fatal level of alcohol in her system.

Denise remembers nothing beyond accepting a drink after bumping into the two men in Bathgate during a very rare night out. She had gone to school with Robertson, but did not know Goodwillie or even that he was a footballer.

She awoke the next day, naked, alone and locked in a strange house. Terrified that something bad had happened to her, she immediately called the police.

Long delays to get forensic tests done meant Denise would never know whether her drink had been spiked, but there was a potentially fatal level of alcohol in her system, meaning she was unable to give consent.

But after promising Denise the case was going ahead, prosecutors gave Goodwillie a letter telling him he would not be prosecuted even before all the forensic tests in the case had been completed, including on what was described as “three drugs of misuse”.

The move enabled Goodwillie’s lawyers, who were also acting as his football agents, to complete a £2.4 million football transfer deal for the player, who was being fought over by Rangers and English premier league clubs.

Civil case

Denise made legal history by taking her rapists to civil court where Goodwillie was represented by Scotland’s current Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC. One of Scotland’s most respected judges, Lord Armstrong, found in 2017 that neither Goodwillie nor Robertson were credible or reliable, awarding Denise £100,000 damages – which she has never seen a single penny of.

Denise Clair at Scottish Parliament with The Sunday Post's Marion Scott. — Denise Clair at Scottish Parliament with The Sunday Post’s Marion Scott.

She said: “I am pleased the first minister took time to make a personal apology to me.

“But I really should not have had to wait all these years to get a proper chance of justice.

“No rape victim should suffer the despair and trauma I have had to endure all these years.

“I sincerely hope now that the government will better understand how victims like me feel when our criminal justice system is so unfit for purpose, it ends up causing more trauma rather than delivering convictions.

“This has never been about money for me. It has always been about justice. That is what matters to victims of crime. If you commit such a dreadful crime, particularly one which leaves your victim suffering for the rest of their lives, you deserve to be punished.

“Those predators have never shown a second of remorse for what they did. What message does that send out to the rest of society? Instead, they were lauded, celebrated and held on a pedestal as sporting heroes.

“Football fans chanted, ‘Goodwillie… he does what he likes’.

“Goodwillie was even awarded Young Player of the Year by the Scottish Professional Footballers Association during the time he was charged with raping me.

“No wonder sportsmen think they are untouchable, and the law does not apply to them.

“That is one of the reasons why I continue pushing for justice with a private prosecution.”

Because of the way the protocol for the Scottish Legal Aid Board was drawn up, it is the Scottish Government which has to decide whether or not to fund the case.

Denise said: “If Goodwillie and Robertson had been forced to pay what the court awarded me, I would have used that money to fund the prosecution. But the system let me down again. I never wanted to have to ask the Scottish Government to fund the case.

“The reality is that I am the only one who has been left out of pocket as I have had to pay thousands in Legal Aid while they played the system.”

Goodwillie, who made himself bankrupt without ever paying a penny to his victim, has continued to play the “victim card” insisting that his life has been destroyed over what he claims was a consensual act.

After learning of Swinney’s apology, Goodwillie, who has previously said in a podcast that he now wants the private prosecution so he can clear his name, took to social media to whine about being persecuted.

The Scottish Government said the delay in giving Denise an answer is because the case is “complex”.

But criminal KC Thomas Ross, who heads Denise’s legal team, said he has “identified eight or nine” pieces of evidence which prove she was unable to legally give consent.

He said: “There is nothing complicated or complex about this case. Anyone who reads the civil judgement will have the greatest difficulty understanding why this case was not prosecuted.”