Police Scotland officer Alan Greer took his own life after being suspended from duty pending a probe into crimes including rape and attempted murder against women over at least 14 years
A police officer has been unmasked as a rapist who carried out a string of sexual attacks and attempted murders of women over a period of at least 14 years.
PC Alan Greer – dubbed “Police Scotland’s Wayne Couzens” – took his own life in May after being suspended from duty pending an investigation into his offences.
Detectives have so far uncovered a further eight victims, five of whom were sex workers, who were attacked while Greer was off duty, a BBC Disclosure investigation has revealed.
“It feels a bit like this could be Police Scotland’s Wayne Couzens moment,” a source close to the investigation told the BBC.
Couzens murdered 33-year-old Sarah Everard in south London in March 2021 while he was a serving Metropolitan Police officer. He is serving a whole-life sentence for kidnap, rape and murder.
Greer’s first known victim was a woman he raped in her home in Glasgow in 2012 after she had contacted police to report being the victim of a crime.
In 2018, a sex worker in Glasgow told police a man had been violent and gave them a phone number belonging to Greer, which police at the time were not able to trace back to him.
Greer’s crimes came to light in late 2025 when the first woman reported the 2012 rape to police, sparking an investigation by Police Scotland’s anti-corruption unit.
Detectives traced the officers who attended the woman’s home and found that Greer had been tracking the crime file for updates for no legitimate reason.
In February this year, detectives discovered that Greer had searched the police system for information about the incident involving the sex worker.
Greer was arrested in April on suspicion of the 2012 rape. Police raided his home and seized seven mobile phones and a laptop, which revealed the scale of his offending.
In the days after Greer took his own life, Police Scotland announced on its internal communications platform that he had died while suspended from duty and under criminal investigation.
The source close to the investigation told the BBC: “Some of his colleagues thought this was a callous move on behalf of the police, saying he was under criminal investigation when he’d only just died.
“But it’s clear they were all totally in the dark about this guy’s offending. Folk will be in a state of shock when they learn the full truth. I don’t think anyone really knows how bad it is yet.”
Greer’s family and colleagues were said to have been “oblivious” to his violent double life.
Assistant Chief Constable Lynn Ratcliff, gold commander for the investigation, told the broadcaster that the findings of the investigation into Greer were “truly shocking”. “This officer has clearly abused his power and has revisited someone that he’s encountered in the course of his duties,” she said.
“But this victim was brave enough to come and speak to us, and that really was the trigger point for us starting our investigation. That’s allowed us to proactively identify eight further victims.”
However, ACC Ratcliff said the comparison to Couzens was unhelpful and that at this stage there was no evidence to suggest that “red flags” were missed. She added that the force’s vetting process is “markedly different” to when Greer joined Strathclyde Police in 2009, meaning that he would not pass checks today.
With more victims of Greer expected to be identified, the assistant chief constable urged anyone who believes they may have been one of his victims to come forward.
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