{"id":13991,"date":"2026-02-16T16:10:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=13991"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:10:43","slug":"former-bodybuilder-raped-sexually-assaulted-and-abused-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=13991","title":{"rendered":"Former bodybuilder raped, sexually assaulted and abused women"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>A former bodybuilder raped, sexually assaulted and abused women over a five-year period. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Damien Harrier, 31, abused victims at locations in Perth and in Fife and accused one woman of giving him a sexually transmitted\u00a0infection when he knew she did not.<\/p>\n<p>Harrier, formerly of Perth but latterly living in Yorkshire, denied a series of offences during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, but was found guilty of nine charges \u2013\u00a0 five of rape, two of assault and two of abusive behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>A judge told him: \u201cYou have been convicted of serious sexual offences against three women and convicted also in respect of abusive behaviour towards two of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lady Haldane said: \u201cGiven the nature of these convictions, a custodial sentence is inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The judge called for a background report to be prepared\u00a0on Harrier, who has never previously served a prison sentence, and remanded him in custody ahead of sentencing next month.<\/p>\n<p>Harrier told the court there were times he took part in bodybuilding and powerlifting and acted as a personal trainer.<\/p>\n<p>He accepted in evidence that he was a jealous person and told the court: \u201cI have always suffered from low self-esteem and questioned my worth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A relative of one victim said that the woman told her that Harrier raped her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe said that it happened on several occasions. She had asked him to stop, and that he didn\u2019t or wouldn\u2019t, and that he seemed to get a kick out of seeing her in pain and discomfort and saying \u2018no\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Harrier began his offending\u00a0in June 2018 when he assaulted and raped his first victim in Perth on several occasions. During the abuse, he grabbed the woman by the neck and throttled her, restricting her breathing.<\/p>\n<p>He also shouted and acted aggressively towards a second woman and isolated her from her friends and monitored her mobile phone use between September\u00a02021 and June 2022 at locations in Perth, Dunfermline and St Andrews. On one occasion, he subjected the victim to a penetrative sexual assault.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The woman said she met him through her interest in bodybuilding. She said: \u201cI began to really like him. I felt he was quite a cool guy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe something of a bad guy as well, but towards me, he was affectionate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But she then started to see another side of him. She said: \u201cHe got super, super angry all of a sudden.\u201d\u00a0 The woman said Harrier would act aggressively and was \u201ca big guy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>A third woman also saw Harrier acting aggressively and shouting at her as she was targeted for abuse between August 2022 and February 2023. She was also isolated from friends, and her phone usage was monitored. The victim was also assaulted and raped by him.<\/p>\n<p>Harrier was placed on the sex offenders\u2019 register.<\/p>\n<div class=\"whatsapp-callout mobile-only\">\n<h5>STV News is now on WhatsApp<\/h5>\n<p>Get all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaCESJzKgsNvKKNOYO2r\" target=\"_blank\"> <span class=\"icon\"> <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" stroke=\"currentColor\" fill=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 448 512\" height=\"1em\" width=\"1em\"> <path d=\"M380.9 97.1C339 55.1 283.2 32 223.9 32c-122.4 0-222 99.6-222 222 0 39.1 10.2 77.3 29.6 111L0 480l117.7-30.9c32.4 17.7 68.9 27 106.1 27h.1c122.3 0 224.1-99.6 224.1-222 0-59.3-25.2-115-67.1-157zm-157 341.6c-33.2 0-65.7-8.9-94-25.7l-6.7-4-69.8 18.3L72 359.2l-4.4-7c-18.5-29.4-28.2-63.3-28.2-98.2 0-101.7 82.8-184.5 184.6-184.5 49.3 0 95.6 19.2 130.4 54.1 34.8 34.9 56.2 81.2 56.1 130.5 0 101.8-84.9 184.6-186.6 184.6zm101.2-138.2c-5.5-2.8-32.8-16.2-37.9-18-5.1-1.9-8.8-2.8-12.5 2.8-3.7 5.6-14.3 18-17.6 21.8-3.2 3.7-6.5 4.2-12 1.4-32.6-16.3-54-29.1-75.5-66-5.7-9.8 5.7-9.1 16.3-30.3 1.8-3.7.9-6.9-.5-9.7-1.4-2.8-12.5-30.1-17.1-41.2-4.5-10.8-9.1-9.3-12.5-9.5-3.2-.2-6.9-.2-10.6-.2-3.7 0-9.7 1.4-14.8 6.9-5.1 5.6-19.4 19-19.4 46.3 0 27.3 19.9 53.7 22.6 57.4 2.8 3.7 39.1 59.7 94.8 83.8 35.2 15.2 49 16.5 66.6 13.9 10.7-1.6 32.8-13.4 37.4-26.4 4.6-13 4.6-24.1 3.2-26.4-1.3-2.5-5-3.9-10.5-6.6z\"\/> <\/svg> <\/span> <span class=\"label\">Follow STV News<\/span> <\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"whatsapp-callout desktop-only\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h5>Follow STV News on WhatsApp<\/h5>\n<p>Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"qr-code\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/news.stv.tv\/wp-content\/themes\/stvnews\/static\/images\/whatsapp-qr.png\" alt=\"WhatsApp channel QR Code\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.stv.tv\/north\/former-bodybuilder-raped-sexually-assaulted-and-abused-women\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former bodybuilder raped, sexually assaulted and abused women over a five-year period. Damien Harrier, 31, abused victims at locations in Perth and in Fife and accused one woman of giving him a sexually transmitted\u00a0infection when he knew she did not. Harrier, formerly of Perth but latterly living in Yorkshire, denied a series of offences [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former bodybuilder raped, sexually assaulted and abused women - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=13991\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former bodybuilder raped, sexually assaulted and abused women - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A former bodybuilder raped, sexually assaulted and abused women over a five-year period. Damien Harrier, 31, abused victims at locations in Perth and in Fife and accused one woman of giving him a sexually transmitted\u00a0infection when he knew she did not. 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