To locals in the sleepy town of Nerja on the Costa del Sol, Johnny Wilson was a familiar face – a Scottish bodybuilder expat who ran beach yoga classes and was often seen working out in the local gym.
But what fellow expats and even a Spanish woman in a relationship with him did not know is that Wilson wasn’t who he said he was: he was, in fact, a wanted rapist on the run from the law.
When officers from Spain’s elite Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard swooped on him as he hung upside down from gym equipment on the beach, they were shocked to learn they had been sold a lie.
Johnny Wilson – also known to some in Nerja, an hour from Malaga, as Jimmy – was in fact James Clacher, 57, wanted back home for the violent rapes of two women.
He had met his targets on Tinder and Bumble – after shaving 10 years off of his age – who this week was convicted of two violent assaults on women he met on dating apps in 2019 and 2020.
He faked his death after learning that police were closing in, abandoning his car at the side of a loch on the west coast of Scotland in 2022 and, a court heard, stealing away in a lorry to reach France before making his way to Spain.
He took on a new identity and worked cash–in–hand in a bid to evade the law, taking on odd jobs such as gardening and making new friends with whom he went hiking.
It was after detectives back home issued a missing persons appeal, however, that Clacher’s world fell apart.
Double rapist James Clacher in his police mugshot after being extradited to Scotland following two years on the run
Video footage released by the Spanish Civil Guard showed Clacher, wearing a bucket hat, being wrestled down from fitness equipment in Nerja, Malaga, by plain–clothes police
Habitual liar Clacher met his victims on Tinder and Bumble – after knocking 10 years off of his age on his profiles
Someone in Nerja recognised the man in the appeal as ‘Jimmy’ – and sent a tip off to the media.
‘We believe we have seen this man in Nerja on the Costa del Sol,’ the tipster told Sky News via email. The broadcaster then sent the information onto police.
Clacher, a compulsive liar who took 10 years off of his age on Bumble and Tinder and told one of his victims immediately after raping her that his brother had suffered a heart attack, was then grabbed by elite Spanish cops as he was working out.
The arrest shocked locals who said they had known ‘Johnny’ as an amiable man who put others at ease.
Fellow expat Matt told Sky he had thought of the man he knew was ‘very, very nice’ and ‘very charming’, admitting he had become good friends with him.
They had gone on hiking trips together and shared meals. But he now admits some of his friend’s behaviour had been curious, such as never showing his face in photographs.
Matt now says: ‘I was completely shocked. Completely stunned. I just couldn’t believe it. 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.’
His girlfriend in Spain is now said to be traumatised after discovering her partner’s past, having had no idea he was wanted for rape.
So good was Clacher’s deception nobody knew who he really was. Eugenio Cabezas, a local journalist, told Sky of Nerja: ‘This is the best place to be no one.’
Spanish newspaper 20minutos noted this week that Clacher had been ‘deeply involved in the sports community’ in Nerja after befriending a man who helped him find work and housing.
It may well have been his enthusiasm for fitness that became his undoing, regularly meeting people in the local TimeSport gym, one of whom, it has since emerged, sent a tip to the media.
The High Court in Glasgow was told how Clacher, 57, violently raped two women in Troon, South Ayrshire in August 2019 and in Glasgow in September 2020. He matched with them on dating apps.
Spanish police swooped on Clacher – living under the alias ‘Johnny Wilson’ – in Nerja on the Costa del Sol after receiving information from Sky News
Clacher was then taken to a local police station before, a month later, being flown back to Scotland to face justice
Locals say he was a regular sight at the TimeSport gym in Nerja’s town centre, where he would offer personal training
Clacher’s trial heard from his two victims, one of whom – a 46-year-old mother – was attacked within 15 minutes of meeting him after they matched on Tinder.
The rapist – who told his first victim his name was James Clarke – forced himself upon her as she was getting ready for their date before taking her upstairs and abusing her further in Troon in Ayrshire on Scotland’s west coast in August 2019.
She told the court: ‘He did not say a word. I said: “I do not like this. I do not want to do this”. I kept saying that.
‘He was just ignoring me. My body started shaking and I started crying.’
After the attacks, Clacher claimed he had to leave as his brother had suffered a heart attack – a lie.
The woman did not initially report the crime to police, but did report him to Tinder.
Subsequently, she had further contact with her attacker in which she branded him ‘a predatory rapist’ and ‘a vessel for what you wanted’.
In September 2020, he met with another woman he met on Bumble, taking her on a date where they ate takeaway Nando’s and took a walk on the beach.
After returning to her house, Clacher assaulted her as they watched a film after each removing some clothing.
The 31-year-old told the trial she had consented to ‘kissing and hugging’ but no other sexual activity.
He stayed in her flat for 20 minutes after the attack – then claimed he was ‘sorry’ but that he would like to see her again. She went on to report the incident to police, sparking a full investigation.
The court also heard evidence from two other women who claimed Clacher inappropriately touched them without their consent at Church Gym Wellness and Fitness Centre in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire.
Clacher is alleged to have gone on the run after learning he was to be interviewed by police over these allegations, which were reported to police following the rapes.
Clacher was working out at this beach in Nerja when plain clothes police officers made their play and arrested him
He grappled with officers before being wrenched into the sand, where he was quickly restrained
Clacher raped two women in Scotland before faking his death and fleeing to the continent, allegedly by lorry
The former gym boss drove his Suzuki Swift to the edge of a loch in Argyll and Bute in May 2022 and left what espoused to be a suicide note that held his first target responsible for his death.
‘(She) will never stop until I’m dead or I’m in prison,’ he had said.
Clacher’s father, who is also named James Clacher, said he went to alert police to his son being missing after friends raised concerns.
Mr Clacher said he spoke to his son on the phone, who said: ‘Dad, I don’t know how to handle this.’
Mr Clacher testified that his son admitted to him he did not intend to kill himself. A total of £5.5k was withdrawn from a business bank account one day before Clacher vanished, jurors also heard.
In reality, the rapist fled into a forest in the heart of Scotland, where he later claimed to have survived on ‘berries and puddle water’ for a time.
Detective Constable Jamie Crossan would later tell the trial that Clachan claimed to have travelled from Loch Long to Inverness, then down the east coast of Scotland into England.
He then says he hid in a truck that was bound for France in order to reach the continent, before getting his hands on a bike and cycling to Spain.
Police began investigating, searching the nearby hills for the rapist in the belief he was hiding close by. They traced him as far as Tyndrum, 22 miles north of where he had abandoned his car.
A warrant for his arrest was issued at the end of May 2022, but the trail soon went cold. Clacher, it seemed, had evaporated.
In November 2023, detectives launched a missing persons appeal which warned that Clacher, last seen in grey cargo trousers with a black jacket, poncho and black trainers, was not to be approached.
All the while, Clacher was earning a living in Nerja as a gardener, personal trainer and yoga instructor 1,300 miles away from where he had last been seen, seemingly convinced he had evaded the law. That was not to last.
In May 2024, he went to Playa de Burriana beach and propped himself up on some gym apparatus. It was a sunny day and it seemed he hadn’t a care in the world.
After learning he was set to be questioned about alleged sexual offences, he dumped his car at Loch Long car park in Argyll and Bute (pictured), leaving a fake suicide note
Clacher (seen here in a CCTV image issued by Police Scotland in 2022) fled to Spain, allegedly via lorry and bicycle
Clacher had fled to the town of Nerja on the Costa del Sol (pictured), where he went by the alias Johnny Wilson
But as he hung there, two men and a woman watching with interest approached him and wrenched him down, wrestling him face–first into the sand and strapping cable ties to his wrists.
Clacher had just been busted by the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard, working with Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency to help bring him in.
Astonishing bodycam footage showed Clacher being dragged off the workout rack, his bucket hat falling off as he struggled with his captors before being taken to a local police station to be booked. He was extradited to Britain a month later.
Local cops, working with investigators back in Scotland, were able to track him down thanks to his ongoing enthusiasm for fitness even when on the run, surveilling him from a distance to ensure they had the right man.
‘The operation began when the British National Crime Agency (NCA) received anonymous information indicating that the fugitive could be living in the town of Nerja (Málaga),’ the Civil Guard said.
‘This information, combined with the information available on the fugitive indicating that his lifestyle was closely linked to sports, allowed officers to track him down in the aforementioned town.
‘(Officers were) identifying a person closely involved in the sports community in that area as a possible target, even using an identity other than his own.
‘Once located and placed under discreet and continuous surveillance, after confirming with the British authorities that he was the fugitive, he was arrested while practicing calisthenics in a sports area on Nerja beach.’
Clacher is now sitting in a Scottish prison cell awaiting sentencing in October.
Clacher is seen standing in a Spanish police station after being arrested by the Civil Guard’s elite Central Operative Unit (UCO)
A missing persons poster for Clacher issued by Police Scotland after it issued a warrant for his arrest
Remanding him in custody, Lord Cubie told him he had acted in a ‘warped and self centred manner’ – and should expect a lengthy jail–term.
Advocate depute Catriona MacLeod, prosecuting, highlighted to the jury that Clacher had told ‘lie upon lie’, including taking 10 years off of his age on dating apps and lying about his surname and the death of his brother.
She said: ‘You told lie upon lie, so many lies. What are you not lying about, I may ask.’
Separately, Clacher also had his professional registration as a dietitian struck out in July by the Health & Care Professions Tribunal Service.
Detective Inspector Bruce Fyfe of Police Scotland said yesterday: ‘It’s difficult to comprehend the distress and suffering Clacher caused the women in this case.
‘I hope this conviction brings them some form of comfort. He will now face the consequences of his actions.
‘This conviction demonstrates our commitment to thoroughly investigating serious offences and pursuing those who seek to avoid prosecution, no matter where they go.’
