Predator firefighter, 34, who sexually assaulted, stalked and tried to rape totally different girls is jailed

A firefighter who sexually attacked three women, including attempting to drag a stranger down an alleyway during a cocaine-fuelled bid to rape her, has been jailed for more than five years.

Predator Jamie Scott has also been placed on the sex offenders register for life.

The 34-year-old, who prowled the streets late at night to target one of his victims, was sent to prison for three years and six months after a jury at Perth Sheriff Court found him guilty of a string of stalking and sex attack offences against three women.

Sheriff William Wood added a further two-year extension period ‘in order to protect the public from the risk of serious harm’ after Scott’s release from prison.

The jury heard how Scott snorted cocaine before ‘prowling the streets of Dundee’ and identifying a lone woman in the early hours of October 24, 2023.

He spotted his victim walking home alone and sidled up to her, before initially asking her to pretend to be his girlfriend. Scott then tried to grab her hand to pull her into the shadows with the intention of raping her.

The former lifeguard was found guilty of assaulting the woman with the intent to rape her.

He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting two other women in Perth and stalking one of them over a 16-week period.

Predator Jamie Scott has been jailed for five-and-a-half years after he was found guilty of a string of stalking and sex attack offences against three women

Sheriff Wood said: ‘You behaved in a despicable way towards these women. You were predatory and custody is the only proper way this can be dealt with.

‘You have been found guilty of a course of conduct affecting three young women from October 2023 to March 2024. It was three women in different sets of circumstances, which tends to suggest you are a sexual predator.

‘That gives the court considerable cause for concern. Anyone who observed the trial would have been moved by the evidence. They were all plainly upset and distressed while recounting their experiences of your conduct.

‘Reports on you do not present a particularly attractive picture. You indulge in victim-blaming, have a sense of entitlement and display ego-centric attitudes.

‘You don’t appear to accept any sense of responsibility for your actions. Having regard to the nature, seriousness and extent of the offending, I am satisfied only a custodial sentence is appropriate.’

Jurors heard how the then-Perth-based firefighter – a father-of-one – forced himself on his first victim at her home address in the city on October 7, 2023.

He kissed her once, repeatedly tried to kiss her again and placed his hand under her clothing and sexually touched her. After this he stalked her for nearly four months.

But he told jurors he had lent the woman some money and had gone to her house to claim the money back, alleging he had never seen texts asking him to stop turning up.

Sheriff William Wood at Perth Sheriff Court added a two-year extension period ‘in order to protect the public from the risk of serious harm’ after Scott’s release from prison

Scott had been suspended from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service by the time he was quizzed by police over the second assault, in Dundee on October 24, 2023.

He had taken cocaine before coming across his victim and asking her to pretend to be his girlfriend. He then repeatedly grabbed her hand and refused to let go.

Scott told police the woman had been very friendly and was simply helping him find a cash machine, but in reality she was alarmed by his ‘increasingly strange’ behaviour.

As they approached an ATM, he attempted to forcibly pull her by the hand into an alleyway, where the court held he intended to rape her but she managed to break free.

He met his third victim by chance at the Tesco car park on Perth’s Crieff Road, on March 22, 2024.

They had known each other as youngsters, but were never close. He persuaded her to get in his car to buy her a vape from a nearby garage.

He refused to return her to her car and drove instead to a pub before finally driving her back.

Scott then sexually assaulted her by repeatedly attempting to kiss her.

After she got into her car and drove away, Scott followed her home and she saw him drive past, staring at her.

Defence counsel James McCrone said: ‘He worked in the leisure industry and was a lifeguard. It was his long-term goal to become a firefighter.

‘He joined in Cleveland and then moved to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. His role as a firefighter was central to his identity and he was suspended immediately following his arrest.

‘His career as a firefighter is now at an end. He is hopeful his skills might allow him to work in other fields. His relationship ended when he was charged in March 2024.

‘He has had periods of substance misuse, addiction and gambling difficulties. The report identifies his denial and problematic attitudes that require work.’

The court heard how he had been in the fire service for more than six years, but is now working as a ‘specialist confined space rescue supervisor’.