Serial rapist to be deported from Australia and sent back to Scotland after political dispute

A Scottish serial rapist who has spent almost his entire life in Australia is deported after a major political dispute.

Notorious sex offender Charles Davidson, 74, has lived in Australia since he was five years old after moving here with his family from his hometown of Glasgow.

He was convicted of 59 crimes against 25 different women and one child. But after he was granted a visa to stay in Australia, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was so outraged that he changed the law to send him back to Scotland.

Albanese said he was revoking Davidson’s right to remain because “the safety of the community comes first” and is more important than a non-citizen’s ties to Australia.

Davidson carried out the attacks in his chiropractic clinics over a period of twelve years beginning in 2003.

The impact of his crime was so great that one of his victims began to wash himself with methylated spirits to get rid of the feeling of impurity.

Another said Davidson’s crimes had plunged her into a “horrific situation of emotional and mental anguish.”

She said: “I have come to terms with the fact that a stable, intimate relationship may not be an option for me.”

Some of the perpetrator’s victims – including a pregnant woman, a 15-year-old girl and a police officer – considered suicide.

Davidson was convicted of eight counts of rape, 48 counts of sexual assault and three counts of indecent treatment of children under 16.

He was sentenced to a total of 16 years in prison.

In 2018, Davidson was sentenced to five years and six months in prison for sexually abusing ten clients and raping one.

In 2021, he was found guilty of 40 more counts, including seven counts of rape of 16 more victims. He received an additional six years in prison on top of his sentence. The judge described him as a serious violent offender who acted in a “calculated and predatory” manner.

Efforts to allow him to remain in Australia after his release, which could happen as early as this year, have caused outrage.

As a result, Direction 99, which allows foreign prisoners to remain in the country after their release, was repealed. Last night there were concerns about Davidson’s return to Scotland.

Russell Findlay, Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, said: “This rapist’s links to Scotland appear to stretch back to the 1950s, so it would be wrong for the Australian authorities to put him on a plane.”

“They have to solve their own problems. We already have enough criminals without importing more.”

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