FORMER BODYBUILDER DAMIEN HARRIER JAILED AFTER MULTIPLE SEXUAL OFFENCES
A man has today, Friday, 17 April, 2026, been sentenced to 12 years in prison for a series of serious sexual and violent offences towards women.Damien Harrier, 31, was convicted of nine offences following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Today at the same court he was sentenced and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Harrier committed the offences, which included five counts of rape, against three women between 2018 and 2023.
One of the women met Harrier in his capacity as a personal trainer.
The trial heard that Harrier assaulted one of the women by grabbing her neck, restricting her breathing.
Harrier was the subject of a proactive investigation which was carried out by specialist detectives in 2023.
He was subsequently charged with the offences in July 2023.
Detective Sergeant Kelly Paton said: "Harrier abused these women both physically and emotionally and has been convicted of serious offences.
"I'd like to thank the women who engaged with police and told us what had happened to them.
With their support we were able to bring this case before a court who ultimately found Harrier guilty of horrific abuse.
"Police Scotland will always thoroughly investigate, and we are here to listen and support victims.
Anyone who is a victim of abuse or believes they know someone who may be a victim, please contact us or relevant support agencies." —————————————————————————————————— A former bodybuilder raped, sexually assaulted and abused women over a five-year period.
Damien Harrier, 31, abused victims at locations in Perth and in Fife and accused one woman of giving him a sexually transmitted infection when he knew she did not.Harrier, formerly of Perth but latterly living in Yorkshire, denied a series of offences during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, but was found guilty of nine charges – five of rape, two of assault and two of abusive behaviour.A judge told him: “You have been convicted of serious sexual offences against three women and convicted also in respect of abusive behaviour towards two of them.”Lady Haldane said: “Given the nature of these convictions, a custodial sentence is inevitable.”The judge called for a background report to be prepared on Harrier, who has never previously served a prison sentence, and remanded him in custody ahead of sentencing next month.Harrier told the court there were times he took part in bodybuilding and powerlifting and acted as a personal trainer.He accepted in evidence that he was a jealous person and told the court: “I have always suffered from low self-esteem and questioned my worth.”A relative of one victim said that the woman told her that Harrier raped her.“She said that it happened on several occasions.
She had asked him to stop, and that he didn’t or wouldn’t, and that he seemed to get a kick out of seeing her in pain and discomfort and saying ‘no’,” she said.Harrier began his offending in June 2018 when he assaulted and raped his first victim in Perth on several occasions.
During the abuse, he grabbed the woman by the neck and throttled her, restricting her breathing.He also shouted and acted aggressively towards a second woman and isolated her from her friends and monitored her mobile phone use between September 2021 and June 2022 at locations in Perth, Dunfermline and St Andrews.
On one occasion, he subjected the victim to a penetrative sexual assault.
The woman said she met him through her interest in bodybuilding.
She said: “I began to really like him.
I felt he was quite a cool guy.“Maybe something of a bad guy as well, but towards me, he was affectionate.”But she then started to see another side of him.
She said: “He got super, super angry all of a sudden.” The woman said Harrier would act aggressively and was “a big guy”.A third woman also saw Harrier acting aggressively and shouting at her as she was targeted for abuse between August 2022 and February 2023.
She was also isolated from friends, and her phone usage was monitored.
The victim was also assaulted and raped by him.Harrier was placed on the sex offenders’ register.
