Was the young mother who was driven to suicide another victim of Scottish rapist Kim Avis, who faked his own death?

A young mother committed suicide within months of claiming she was sexually assaulted by a rapist who faked his own death to avoid justice.

Kim Avis was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2021 for raping three women and sexually abusing another.

The 60-year-old, who had worked as a market trader in Inverness, fled to California and faked a drowning death to avoid prosecution. However, he was later tracked down and arrested by US Marshals in Colorado.

In the new BBC podcast “Dead Man Running”, it was revealed for the first time that a woman had tried to raise concerns about Avis two decades before his conviction.

The woman, referred to as Laura in the podcast, went to a BBC office in 2001 and confided to a journalist that she had been “harassed” and “mistreated” by Avis.

Avis, who also worked as a busker, became a celebrated figure in Inverness for his eccentric charm and charity work.

But behind his sympathetic facade he was hiding a serial offender who had been stalking young girls and sexually abusing women for years.

BBC journalist Myles Bonnar, who was from Inverness and knew Avis, spent several years researching the story and was tipped off about Laura after his television documentary on the case was broadcast.

He was told that Laura was a confident, articulate and well-dressed woman, but that she had appeared distressed on the day she went to BBC Inverness.

A journalist advised Laura to report her concerns to the police, but it is unclear whether she ever did so.

Laura’s father, who does not want his daughter’s identity to be revealed, found a letter she had written to her lawyer in April 2001.

In it she said: “There were laws against the kind of behavior he displayed toward me.”

“Several times he tried to hug and kiss me against my express wishes. He chased after me, wagging his tongue around me in an obscene and lewd manner.

“At first I tried to avoid Kim, but over time I faced him and challenged him several times in a very direct and confrontational way.”

Eight months after contacting BBC Inverness, she took her own life in one of the forests there.

Mr. Bonnar had been emailing Avis for three years while in prison, but when he asked about Laura, the rapist cut off communication.

He said: “We still don’t know what really happened between Laura and Avis, and we will probably never know what drove her to end her life.”

“What we do know is that Laura was unwell in the months before her death and went to the BBC to complain about Avis in the same year she died.”

Kim Avis, also known as Kim Gordon-Avis, was flown to Los Angeles airport without bail on February 16, 2019 after being charged with sexual abuse.

Nine days later, his son reported him missing, telling the local sheriff’s office that his father had gone swimming that evening.

When they discovered that charges had been brought against Avis in Scotland, they suspected that the disappearance had been a fake.

In an international manhunt, Monterey sheriff’s deputies worked with U.S. Marshals, Interpol and Scottish authorities to obtain an arrest and extradition warrant for Avis.

He was arrested in Colorado on July 27, 2019 and found guilty of a total of 14 charges at the High Court in Glasgow in 2021.

Jade Skea, who was a teenager when he abused her, was subjected to beatings and sexual assault, including rape.

Avis controlled and isolated her in his house, known as the Wolves Den. But Mrs Skea found the strength to report him to the police.

Although Ms Skea did not know Laura, she said it was inevitable that there would be more victims.

She said: “There is no line he won’t cross. He is so dangerous. He will always be a threat and he should never be released.”

■ For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit www.samaritans.org