Tinder ‘rapist’ arrested on Spanish beach while hanging from gymnastic hoop | World News

This is the moment a British Tinder rape suspect was ambushed and arrested by police while flexing his muscles on a beach in Spain.

The footage shows two police officers disguised as tourists catching topless James Clacher hanging upside down from gymnastics hoops in Nerja on the Costa del Sol.

Seconds later, two more officers appear and Clacher is pushed into the sand, handcuffed and dragged away.

A second shot shows him being led down the street with a T-shirt pulled over his arms.

The arrest took place on May 21, but the Spanish Guardia Civil only released the footage today after it became known that Clacher’s fitness obsession was his downfall.

The 55-year-old was due to stand trial in Scotland for attacking two women he met on Tinder.

He is accused of raping a woman in a flat in Troon in August 2019 and of another attack on a woman in a flat in Gorbals, Glasgow, in September 2020.

The gym boss was last seen in Airdrie, Lanarkshire on May 30, 2022, and was reported missing after his clothes and Suzuki Swift car were found in the Loch Long car park in Arrochar, Argyll, the following day.

A Scottish police spokesman announced earlier this year that he had been found and detained in Spain: “A 55-year-old man was arrested in Spain on Tuesday 21 May on an international arrest warrant.”

“We are in contact with partner agencies and extradition proceedings are being initiated against him.”

The arrest was carried out by the Guardia Civil’s centralised UCO unit, which previously arrested British-born suspected gangster Johnny Morrissey and his wife Nicola in September 2022.

In an initial comment on the operation, police said today: “The operation began when the UK’s National Crime Agency received an anonymous tip-off that he might be in Nerja and immediately contacted the Guardia Civil’s UCO unit.”

“This information, along with other data about the fugitive that suggested his life was closely tied to sport, enabled officials to track him down in this city.”

They said they had discovered that he had joined the Nerja sports community and used a false identity.

It continues: “After his identity was confirmed following discreet surveillance, he was arrested while doing gymnastics exercises in a recreational area on the beach in Nerja.”

“This individual, described by Scottish police as dangerous, has been accused of sexually assaulting two women he met on a dating app.”

“His trial was suspended while the manhunt for him began, as he fled his country in 2022 when authorities reported that his car had been found at a lake in Scotland.

“Police in Scotland later concluded that this was not an involuntary disappearance and that he had fled to avoid arrest.”

It was not immediately clear today whether Clacher is resisting extradition or has agreed to fly back to Britain to face trial there.

He has already appeared before a judge of the Spanish Audiencia National Court in Madrid, which is responsible for extraditions.

Contact our news team by emailing [email protected].

For more stories like this, visit Visit our news page.

MORE: Search for father after British baby found ‘abandoned in hot car’ in Tenerife

MORE: 36-year-old woman admits murdering her own parents four years before she was discovered

MORE: How the “frog murderer” killed her husband and got away with it

This website is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.