Survivor wants answers as to why her rapist was allowed on Uni campus

A University Athletics champion who was raped by her teammate is demanding answers as to why he was allowed to transfer to the University of Edinburgh, whilst awaiting trial.

Ellie Wilson was attacked by Daniel McFarlane in 2018, whilst they both studied in Glasgow.

After McFarlane was charged with the assault he was suspended by the University of Glasgow.

McFarlane has since been convicted and is currently serving five years in prison for his crimes.

But between those events he was accepted into a medical course at the University of Edinburgh and allowed full access to campus, and even to join their athletics squad - the same sport in which he met the woman he'd go on to rape.

Ellie has told Clyde 1 News that when she approached the Uni, fearing they were unaware of the charges made against McFarlane, they told her that they had been informed - but were not going to take any action.

Ellie, going through her own trauma, was then left worrying for the safety of other women her abuser might come across, she said:

"I thought this is really unsafe. And he shouldn't be on a university campus. I just didn't think that that was a safe thing.

"The other side was that I'm from Edinburgh, and I was working in Edinburgh at the time. And this is someone who is from Inverness, and I assumed that he was up in Inverness, far away from me.

"But to then know that he was in the city, where I'm from and where I'm working. And it was really troubling for me.

"It also felt like an injustice because he or he was able to start up a whole new life in a different city, a different uni while I was struggling with PTSD, and felt like I was really struggling to cope."

Ellie had began to research the policies of every University in the country on cases like this.

She found that Edinburgh gave very little information as to their policy, or if they were looking at changing it.

But said she found some other institutions, for example St Andrews University, to have encouraging responses.

Ellie still feels as though change is needed in Edinburgh, and among other Universities, telling us:

" I think there needs to be a clear and transparent procedure to follow when they're faced with situations like this.

"If the universities do want to grant admission to someone who is either a suspected rapist or a rapist, like those being proven in court then they should be offered online only classes.

"I actually think that it would be better for the universities, if there's an upcoming criminal trial to just defer entry, and just wait until that's been settled.

"But if they did want to grant admission, then I think it should be remote only classes and I know that I've had discussions with the University of St. Andrews, and they've said that that is an approach that they would adopt."

A University of Edinburgh spokesperson told us:

"The safety of our students and staff is our top priority and we are always working to ensure the University is a safe place to study and work. We remain acutely aware of the wider issue of sexual violence on campus and act swiftly when misconduct is proven to have occurred to implement appropriate precautionary measures that protect our community.

"In accordance with guidance from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), our admissions process does not require applicants to disclose any criminal convictions or ongoing investigations at the point of application, unless their chosen degree is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 or requires membership of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. When it is relevant, we work closely with the police and the criminal justice social work team, and take their advice on admissions conditions. We use any information we receive about criminal behaviour to carry out appropriate risk assessments when required."

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