Rapist ruined my life when he accused me of sex abuse

A church volunteer’s life was ruined after a violent rapist smeared HIM with false sex assault allegations.

Devastated victim Chris Brookes was subjected to a campaign of terror after falling out with former friend Kevin McFie.

McFie decided to ruin Chris’s life after the 42-year-old accused him of not pulling his weight when it came to tidying up after a church event. So he hatched a plot and accused Chris of fondling his wife Shelli Knight’s breast. She was forced to back up the false claims, fearing brutal retribution if she did not go along with the violent sex offender.

Incredibly McFie’s plot worked and innocent Chris was prosecuted and hit with a criminal record that has left his life in tatters. His 2012 conviction for sexually assaulting Shelli, 22, was only recently quashed when she admitted to police she had lied in court to secure the conviction.

Now, with McFie staring at the prospect of life behind bars after being found guilty of sex crimes himself, Chris has spoken for the first time about the disturbing events that led to him being falsely branded a pervert.

He said: “McFie tried to ruin my life. Jail is the only place for him. I just want to get on with my life now and rebuild it.”

Chris was a member of Dundee’s Full Gospel Church when McFie joined the church group back in 2011. But his life changed irrevocably when the minor argument resulted in McFie brutally assaulting him in the street an attack which would act as a catalyst for the sex abuse claims.

After the plot led to him being found guilty, Chris was left at his lowest ebb. Shunned by the community, barred from the church and with people calling him a pervert in the street, he was left battling depression.

The dad-of-two said: “People didn’t treat me the same after I was convicted. I was like a leper. It was only a handful of pals who believed in me.”

Bullied Shelli has admitted her fear of McFie led to her making up the false claims that led to Chris’s conviction in 2012. When she came clean to the authorities it prompted police to widen their investigation, which led to the sordid truth about McFie being uncovered.

The 32-year-old was caged for seven years at the High Court in Livingston last week and put on a lifelong restriction order meaning he may never be freed from jail after being found guilty of two counts of rape and assault.

Shelli, one of his two victims, waived her right to anonymity and told of her hellish life with her husband. Her ordeal included being forced to zap him with a 50,000-volt Taser gun for his sick kicks. He also subjected her to a brutal attack when she was 34-weeks pregnant with the first of two children she has with him.

Chris is in no way bitter towards the woman who helped set him up as he knows what a terrifying figure McFie is.

“At first he seemed like a great guy and we became close friends,” Chris said. “Shelli, McFie and I were thick as thieves. We spent a lot of time together and they regularly stayed over at mine.”

But what Chris didn’t know was McFie was spiralling out of control.

Chris added: “His behaviour got worse as time went by. I saw him grabbing Shelli by the throat and threatening her.”

He added: “He’d laugh it off and say it was just a joke but I started to think there was more to this guy than met the eye. At church his behaviour was strange. He stopped helping as much and seemed only to be going there to use the computer for free.

“Then some lead meant for the church roof and other things went missing. He admitted the thefts to the pastor, who forgave him. But I started thinking he wasn’t that nice a person. He also started asking me to help him steal from buildings, which I wasn’t going to do. I’m a good Christian and have never been in trouble for that sort of thing.”

Chris and McFie’s relationship deteriorated irrevocably when former American wrestling superstar the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase addressed their congregation.

Chris said: “It was a big night for the church and we were both working behind the scenes. But I ended up doing all the jobs.”

When Chris pulled his pal up about his lack of help on their way home from church, McFie launched a vicious attack on his friend.

Chris added: “I was seeing stars as he rained down punch after punch on my head in front of his wife and family in the street.”

The relationship would never heal properly. Chris texted McFie threatening to tell the police about his criminal activity, but before he could speak to police, officers swooped and accused him of touching up Shelli.

Foodbank volunteer Chris narrowly avoided jail and was ordered to complete 200 hours’ unpaid work and put on the sex offenders’ register after he was found guilty of indecently groping her.

He says the shock of what had happened to him caused him to freeze when he gave evidence at Dundee Sheriff Court. And it was a case of his word against McFie and his coerced wife.

Chris said: “I couldn’t believe someone would do something like that. No matter how many times I said I didn’t do it, no one believed me.”

McFie’s real nature was finally laid bare by police who brought him to court on the double rape charge. On Monday after being found guilty Judge Lord Boyd made a lifelong restriction order, which means he will only be freed when he is no longer deemed a danger to women.

Last night, tortured Shelli admitted to The Sunday Post that McFie forced her to tell lies about Chris touching her.

She said: “I refused at first, but he said he’d batter me if I didn’t. I really thought everyone would see it wasn’t true, but Chris was convicted and I was devastated.

“Kevin is a monster and capable of anything. He has got what he deserved now.”

Despite never receiving an apology from the Crown, Chris has now vowed to move on with his life. He said: “I feel vindicated and want to thank those who stood by me.”

Monster McFie was branded “violent and controlling” during his trial at the High Court in Livingston.

He raped and assaulted two women over a period of months. One of the victims was his wife Shelli.

McFie had set up a love triangle with Shelli, 22, and a female pal, who he also raped, beat and throttled. Shelli’s pal cannot be named for legal reasons.

But during the 2013 trial the extent of his campaign of terror was revealed. The court heard he bound and gagged the women, holding knives to their throats and threatening to kill them. He was also found guilty of attacking a man in the street and pled guilty to possessing a Taser gun and assaulting former friend Chris.

Last week video footage emerged of McFie forcing his wife Shelli to zap him with a 50,000 volt stun gun for pleasure. The rapist uploaded the sinister clip to web-site, YouTube under the pseudonym Dundee Taserboy.

McFie can be heard shouting “Yes” as he falls to the floor after being shocked by the powerful weapon, which is illegal to own.

Shelli said: “It was part of his control, if I didn’t do it I’d get beat up.”

His brutal reign came to light when Shelli fled to her family after twisted McFie allowed her to go to the shops.

What the Crown Office had to say about the case

The Procurator Fiscal at Dundee received a report concerning Christopher Brookes in connection with an alleged incident on September 4, 2011.

There was sufficient evidence, which at the time appeared to be credible and reliable, to prosecute him for sexual assault, and the Procurator Fiscal considered it in the public interest to do so.

The sheriff subsequently convicted Brookes of sexual assault and sentenced him to a community payback order of 200 hours. The prosecution of Mr Brookes arose as a direct result of the statements and testimony of the witnesses in the case against him.

Information subsequently came to the Crown’s attention to suggest that witness testimony in the case had been false, and the Crown raised High Court criminal proceedings against Kevin McFie, for various charges including attempting to pervert the course of justice, perjury and subornation of perjury in relation to the case against Mr Brookes.

The Crown has a duty to keep cases under review and, during the trial of McFie, the Advocate Depute concluded that there was no longer sufficient evidence to continue proceedings in respect of those particular charges and withdrew them from the jury.

McFie was convicted of other charges on the indictment including a number of assaults, rapes and a firearms charge. These convictions included a charge of assaulting Mr Brookes.

Quite separately, the Crown also applied to the court to have Christopher Brookes’ conviction set aside, which has been done.

The Crown at all times acted on the information that was available to it. Instances such as this which require a conviction to be set aside are very rare and are always taken extremely seriously by the Crown.