people
Call for justice
Ellie Wilson
Being back at the University of Glasgow fills Ellie Wilson with mixed emotions. While studying for a politics degree five years ago, the 25-year-old was raped by her then-boyfriend Daniel McFarlane. Stirring ice in a plastic tumbler of coffee on the hottest day of the year, she tells me about her three-year ordeal to secure a conviction. “I’m really proud of everything I achieved at university, but it was one of the most difficult times of my life. I was gaslit, manipulated and I lost sight of myself.”
In Scotland, 51 per cent of rape and attempted rape trials result in conviction—compared to a 91 per cent overall conviction rate. Rape in a relationship is less likely to lead to jail time than cases involving strangers, although most rapes against women are carried out by someone they know.