SCOTTISH SEX ATTACKER GRANT MCCASKILL ADMITS MULTIPLE CHARGES AFTER POLICE HUNT
THE four-year hunt for a notorious Scottish sex attacker came to an end yesterday when a man admitted the assaults after his girlfriend went to the police.Last night in an exclusive interview with The Herald Susan Jeffrey spoke of her courageous decision.
Grant McCaskill had earlier appeared in court to plead guilty to a series of sex charges.
It closed a terrifying chapter in the life of students and young women in Glasgow's West End.
Speaking exclusively to The Herald, Miss Jeffrey said: ''It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do because I really did love Grant.
But it was the right thing.
''He lied to me so much.
I never thought the man I was going to marry, whose babies I was going to have, could do such terrible things.
''In the end he hurt me too, but I have stopped other women being harmed.
It has been worthwhile, but I don't think I'll ever get over knowing that I lived with such an animal.'' McCaskill, 26, admitted six charges of indecent assault on women and two of being a peeping tom after the Crown dropped nine other charges.
When he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow it was revealed he had been arrested by Strathclyde Police five months before being charged with the sex offences in the West End.
Despite criticism of the police's actions, the man in charge of the hunt, Detective Inspector Bob Rae defended the decision.
He said: ''McCaskill was arrested for being a peeping tom and at that time we did question him about the attacks in the West End, but he was not admitting to anything.
''We had no evidence to charge him then and we had to let him go.
It was only after we spoke to Susan that we got what we needed to charge him.
It was frustrating, but we were bound by the law.'' Advocate depute Mr Alan Turnbull, QC, told the court McCaskill was found perched on a first floor window ledge peering at two young women undressing in a bathroom.
Although he was a convicted sex offender - he served nine months for an indecent assault in 1990 - he was allowed to go.
McCaskill had lived in Caledonia Road, Gorbals, before living on-and-off with Miss Jeffrey at Sorby Street, Parkhead, both Glasgow.
Mr Turnbull said that on May 17, 1993, McCaskill burst into a bedsit in Southpark Avenue, Glasgow, and threatened a 22-year-old woman with violence before assaulting her in her bedroom.
During the assault, the woman screamed and struggled and McCaskill finally ran out of the house.
A 36-year-old woman living in a bedsit at Hillhead Street was attacked in her bedroom on Boxing Day, 1995 by McCaskill when he put his hand over her mouth and fondled her.
She managed to flee to the bathroom with her cordless telephone and summon help.
McCaskill left his fingerprints on a mug.
A 20-year-old student was attacked on the stairs of her flat in Ruskin Place on February 18, 1996, when McCaskill pushed her to the ground, and indecently assaulted her before running away.
A 25-year-old barmaid was attacked at the door of her close as she returned home from work at 3am in Great Western Road, on August 22, 1996.
The woman managed to press the security buzzer on the door.
When it opened she screamed and McCaskill ran away.
Another 25-year-old woman, a student with a job in a night club, was attacked in her close on August 25, 1996, in Arlington Street, when McCaskill threatened to kill her and punched her on the nose.
A 19-year-old female student was attacked on December 2, 1996, in Lilybank Gardens after she had a row with her boyfriend.
McCaskill saw her crying and approached her, but when she walked on he pushed her against a wall and she ended up sitting on top of it.
He indecently assaulted her and threatened to push her to the ground 15ft below.
Lord Cameron deferred sentence until August 28, for psychiatric reports on McCaskill at the High Court in Edinburgh.
