DR ANDREW MCFARLANE

A Highlands-based general practitioner may be under investigation by the General Medical Council due to reports concerning offensive social media comments about his son's rape victim, as reported by the BBC.

Dr Andrew McFarlane's son, Daniel, was found guilty in 2022 of raping Ellie Wilson and was sentenced to prison.

Wilson has since become an advocate for those who have survived male sexual violence.

Dr McFarlane has publicly maintained that his son’s conviction was unjust and has issued multiple disparaging remarks about Wilson on social media.

BBC Scotland has contacted Dr McFarlane for his response.

Wilson secretly recorded McFarlane’s admissions of guilt by covertly filming her phone in her handbag.

McFarlane received a five-year sentence after being convicted on two counts of rape.

The assaults happened between December 2017 and February 2018, a period during which McFarlane was a medical student at Glasgow University.

Since her conviction, Wilson, who chose to remain unnamed initially, has been campaigning for survivors.

She released a recording in January 2023 via X (formerly Twitter), capturing a private conversation with McFarlane the year following the incidents.

In the clip, she confronts him about his denial, asking: "Do you not understand how awful it makes me feel when you say 'I haven't raped you' when you have?" McFarlane responds: "Ellie, we have already established that I have.

The people who need to believe me do believe me.

I will tell the truth someday, but not now." When asked about his feelings regarding his actions, he states: "I feel good knowing I am not in prison." Wilson explained that she shared the clip because many people questioned how the conviction was secured.

After the trial, a lawyer named Lorenzo Alonzi was found to have misused his position and engaged in inappropriate conduct in court.

The Faculty of Advocates’ complaints committee concluded that Alonzi’s behavior went beyond professional boundaries, deeming it unsatisfactory in six out of eleven points raised.

Those affected by this case can find support through BBC Action Line.