Survivor left ‘relieved however damaged’ as rapist loses parole board bid for early launch

A rape victim has welcomed a decision to deny her attacker’s bid for parole just half way through his sentence.

Daniel McFarlane was convicted of two rapes between December 2017 and February 2018 when he was a medical student at the University of Glasgow after a trial at the High Court in 2022.

His victim Ellie Wilson revealed last month that she had been prevented from attending McFarlane’s parole hearing on the grounds that it would not be in the ‘interests of justice’.

But at 6.45pm on Friday she was finally informed that he would not be released early from prison, prompting her to post online: ‘Cheers to another year of him being locked up.’

The 27-year-old, who has met First Minister John Swinney to raise concern over the parole system, previously claimed she had been asked to sign a gagging order to prevent her discussing what will be said at the hearing.

McFarlane was sentenced to five years in prison, despite trying to appeal his sentence three times.

But Ms Wilson slammed the ‘cruel’ justice system when her attacker was considered for early release after serving just half of his sentence.

She revealed she was informed on Friday evening (*14th*) that her attacker’s bid for parole had been rejected.

Ellie Wilson was barred from attending her rapist’s parole board hearing, but later welcomed the decision not to grant him parole

Along with a picture of herself raising a glass, she posted on X: ‘Today my rapist’s bid for parole was rejected. I was denied access to the hearing and had to wait all day for the answer. Hell. But I’ve also received so much love and support that has meant the world to me. So cheers to that, and cheers to another year of him being locked up.’

Earlier she posted: ‘He is NOT being released. They will review him for parole again in a year. I’m relieved but feel broken. I was put through hell for no reason. The process has to change. But for now… time to relax.’

She added: ‘I will never be able to fully express just how much everyone’s kind words have meant to me. When I went through the court case the first time I felt so alone, yet now I have so many people who’ve gone out their way to support me. It truly gives me strength.’

Previously, a letter from the Parole Board noted the ‘prisoner’s objections’ to Ms Wilson’s presence when outlining their decision to bar her from the hearing.

At the time, Ms Wilson stressed that ‘victims deserve better’, adding: ‘Why a rapist’s needs are more important to mine are beyond me. Why it’s not “in the interests of justice” to have a victim attend a hearing that will impact their life is unfathomable.’

Ms Wilson has campaigned to improve the treatment of rape victims after she was ‘dehumanised and humiliated’ by a defence lawyer during the trial of her attacker.

She crowd-funded to prepare for a complaint against court advocate Lorenzo Alonzi, who commented on Wilson’s sexual history and even suggested she had a personality disorder.

At the trial, the jury was presented with an audio clip of McFarlane explicitly confessing to rape, which Wilson recorded using a phone hidden in her handbag.

Despite the damning evidence, Alonzi told jurors that it was ‘difficult not to imagine some sense of injustice’ for her rapist, whose future medical career was left in tatters when he was found guilty and put on the Sex Offenders Register.

Daniel McFarlane was convicted of two rapes between December 2017 and February 2018 when he was a medical student at the University of Glasgow

At the time she said: ‘The whole process of complaining was definitely challenging, time-consuming, and even re-traumatising.

‘With some of the comments he made to the jury after conviction, it felt as if he was trying to punish me and put me in my place for having won the trial.’

She added: ‘We need change urgently, and frankly I find it totally unacceptable that at present rapists seem to have more rights than their victims. I will not stop raising this issue, and I will not stop pushing for reform. Survivors deserve better.’

The Parole Board for Scotland said victims have been barred from hearings for a variety of reasons, including that the hearing was looking at ‘matters of a confidential nature’ and was ‘likely to largely focus on issues of a sensitive and confidential nature’.

Other reasons included the possible effect on the prisoner’s ‘mental health’, while another reason given was the ‘risk that the victim would disrupt the proceedings and that their attendance could be detrimental to the public interest’.

Since May 2023, 108 victims have requested to observe parole hearings. Of those, 102 were accepted and six were denied.

A spokesman said: ‘All requests from registered victims to observe hearings are carefully considered.’

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said it ‘cannot intervene’ on PBS decisions but said ‘the needs of victims should be a priority’.