A former participant on the Jeremy Kyle Show was facing a lengthy jail sentence on Friday after committing a series of rapes on women and teenagers.
Daniel Fuller was convicted of raping four victims in sex attacks in the Highlands, Dundee and West Lothian over a 13-year period and of trying to rape a fifth woman. The High Court in Edinburgh heard that father-of-eight Fuller, 38, had appeared on the former daytime tabloid talk show as he sought help for his sexual behaviour.
Fuller, formerly of Marchwood Avenue, Bathgate, in West Lothian, had denied a string of and allegations during a trial but was found guilty of the five charges of rape, one of attempted rape and one of sexual assault that he faced. A judge told him: "You have been found guilty of seven very serious offences against five women. Individually these would be serious, collectively they are all the more so."
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Lord Richardson told jurors after the verdicts were returned: "You have had to listen to some really difficult and distressing evidence." Defence solicitor advocate Iain McSporran QC said that "only a significant custodial sentence" could meet the seriousness of the offending.
Fuller's first victim was a 14-year-old girl whom he drove from her home near Inverness to the Kyle of Lochalsh, in Ross-shire, before subjecting her to rape in the back of his car. The woman, now aged 29, said that she was bullied as a child and spent a lot of time on the internet on chat sites where she had contact with Fuller who she thought was 18. She said:" I found out later he was 24."
She told the court: "I am pretty sure he knew my age at the time before we met." She said Fuller, who was working for a rail firm, travelled up to Inverness to meet her and then took her for a drive.
The woman said she had felt uncomfortable as he put his hand on her leg during the journey and he parked up in a wooded area at Kyle of Lochalsh. She said it was pitch black and she was feeling scared but Fuller suggested they go in the back of the car.
"I felt like I had to. Just the way he encouraged you to do things. He was quite good at that," she said. She said that in the rear of the vehicle Fuller began molesting her and added: "There was a long conversation of how when you are in a relationship with a girlfriend it's your duty to have sex with that person."
He took of her clothes and started having sex with the underage girl. She said: "I said 'no'. I tried to push him off but it didn't work. He was stronger than me. He had the power." The woman said that Fuller told her: "That's what girlfriend's do."
Fuller later went on to rape her a second time after they met in Edinburgh between April 2007 and April 2008. His second victim was a 16-year-old who was subjected to repeated rapes at a house in Fauldhouse, in West Lothian, and in a car at Dalkeith, in Midlothian, between September 2012 and February 2013.
A third woman was repeatedly sexually assaulted by between January 2018 and April 2019 in West Lothian and on one occasion he tried to rape her after she fell asleep. He also raped another women at a house in Bathgate in August 2020 after went to sleep.
Fuller's final victim was attacked and raped at her home in Dundee on September 22 in 2020 after he had offered to collect her to take her to a party. The woman said she had been drinking and listening to music.
She had come across him through a web chat site and he said there was going to be a party at his house with others who used the same website. She said: "He said he was on his way to Dundee to pick me up."
The woman said: "I thought it would be good to get to know other people from the app and stuff." She said Fuller arrived at her home and they went into her bedroom as she was packing bags to take with her. She said Fuller asked to borrow her charger but he grabbed her and pushed her onto the bed.
Fuller quickly pulled off her leggings and pants. She said: "I didn't say anything, but I can't remember if he said anything. My body just froze because I didn't know what to say or do. I felt really scared and my whole body just froze." She said Fuller had sex with her although she did not want it to happen.
The woman said that she was frightened and went along with what Fuller said and got in his car to travel to his home, but began messaging a friend asking for help. She said: "I was asking him to phone the police for me because I was in his car and I couldn't really phone the police and I was scared."
She said she eventually managed to find the courage to demand that Fuller let her out of the car and he stopped to allow her to leave. She was later found by police in a distressed state. Fuller maintained during his evidence that the victims were either lying or mistaken in their testimony.
Advocate depute Michelle Brannagan said that Fuller had preyed upon women who had "a degree of vulnerability". She said he was a man, who by his own admission, had such an issue with his sexual behaviour that he sought help from the Jeremy Kyle Show.
Sentence was adjourned on Fuller for the preparation of a background report and he was remanded in custody.
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