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Edinburgh Live
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Gordon Currie

Polyamorous documentary star who dated Edinburgh student found guilty of rape

A Scottish children's charity counsellor who featured in a BBC documentary about his polyamorous lifestyle has been found guilty of rape and indecent assault.

Morgan Prior was locked up on Monday after a jury found him guilty of raping one woman and carrying out a serious sex attack on another over a decade ago.

Prior - who spoke on TV about his unusual multiple-partner lifestyle - was remanded in custody and warned he faces a lengthy spell in prison.

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The pony-tailed 33-year-old was found guilty by a majority of jurors at the High Court in Dundee, but was cleared of four further sexual offences.

Temporary Judge Gallacher told Prior: "It is not remotely conceivable that a non-custodial sentence will follow. You have been convicted of two charges.

"One is serious and the other is very serious and the inevitable outcome I will address more comprehensively and completely at the next calling of the case.

"You have been convicted of offences which will inevitably result in a significant period of custody." He deferred sentence for reports to the High Court in Glasgow on 18 July.

One victim told the trial she had been attacked by Prior in December 2010, when he straddled her and used his legs to pin her to a bed, before raping her.

The other victim told the court that during October 2010 Prior indecently assaulted her at an address in Dundee. She described how he removed her clothing, seized her buttocks and legs and pinned her down, made sexual remarks and groped her.

He was cleared of other charges including an attempted rape in 2011 and an indecent assault on a 16-year-old girl during 2008.

The court was told that Prior had no previous convictions and worked as a mental health counsellor for the charity Place2Be, which works with children in schools.

Prior, Wards Avenue, Carnoustie, shook his head as he was led off to cells, while three women supporters embraced and one wept uncontrollably in the courtroom

In 2018, Prior featured in the BBC Scotland documentary Love Unlimited, along with the women he was in a relationship with at the time.

He told how he was in a relationship with two women and was enjoying a polyamory lifestyle after meeting the former on Tinder when he was already dating the latter.

Prior said he had been in a relationship with one woman for four years when he met another and they remained together.

"She introduced me to the idea of polyamory," Prior said. "When I mention that to some people they are quite surprised because they think open relationships, polyamory, that's clearly the man's idea because it's lots of sex, right?

"Lots of communication, a little more sex."

One woman told the programme Prior was good at "emotional communication", which helped them maintain their relationship when she moved from Dundee to study drama in Edinburgh.

Prior said the woman was "happy for him" to have a relationship with another woman.

He said: "She is very encouraging, she is very supportive. There is a lot of mutual joy in all of it."

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