Ghana-Linked Rapist Finally Jailed for Decades of Sexual Abuse

GHANA-LINKED RAPIST FINALLY JAILED FOR DECADES OF SEXUAL ABUSE

A convicted rapist who tried to evade justice by fleeing to Africa has been finally sentenced to 10 years in prison.

James Arnott, aged 57, was earlier found guilty of committing a series of heinous crimes involving rape and indecent assault spanning nearly two decades.

The judge described his actions as "a catalogue of depravity." Arnott was convicted of abusing a woman and three young girls between 1979 and 1998 in Glasgow and Fife.

He had been scheduled to appear at the High Court in Glasgow in September 2015 but failed to show up, having fled to Ghana.

Arnott also attempted to take his own life in Ghana last year before handing himself over to authorities and being extradited back to Scotland.

During the trial, the judge Norman Ritchie QC remarked, "This was a catalogue of depravity over almost 20 years." The court heard that Arnott repeatedly raped a woman over four years starting in 1979 at various addresses in Glenrothes, Fife, and then continued abusing three girls in Glasgow and Fife until the late 1990s.

The victims included a child aged about five and two teenagers in their early teens.

Despite his convictions, Arnott maintains his innocence, according to his defense.

He is now serving a 10-year jail sentence for his crimes.