A police constable who killed himself in May has been identified as a serial rapist who carried out a series of sexual attacks and attempted murders on women over at least 14 years, a major Police Scotland anti-corruption investigation has found.
PC Alan Greer, who served for 17 years and was considered a respected officer, is now suspected of targeting at least nine women, including five sex workers, in attacks both on and off duty. Detectives believe the number of victims will rise significantly as they continue to examine thousands of images and videos recovered from his electronic devices.
Assistant Chief Constable Lynn Ratcliff, the gold commander overseeing the inquiry, described the findings as “truly shocking” and said Greer had “clearly abused his power” as a serving officer.
The investigation was triggered late last year when a woman in her late thirties reported that she had been raped at her home in Glasgow by a uniformed officer in 2012, hours after she had called police to report a disturbance.
2012 rape complaint sparks major inquiry
The woman told officers that in 2012 she had contacted police about an incident at her home and that two uniformed officers attended, took her statement and left.
She said that a few hours later one of those officers returned alone, forced her into a sexual act and then raped her.
After initially appearing reluctant to engage fully with the investigation, she later gave a formal statement to the anti-corruption unit (ACU). Detectives then traced the original 2012 call and identified the officers who had attended her address.
Investigators discovered that, in the weeks after the alleged rape, one of those officers repeatedly checked the woman’s crime report on the police computer system, including once while on annual leave. There was no legitimate operational reason for those searches, and they were interpreted as attempts to monitor whether she had disclosed the attack.
Fourteen years after the earliest known offending, those unexplained keystrokes on a police database led ACU officers to their suspect: PC Alan Greer.
A critical incident was declared, a gold commander appointed, and Greer was placed under covert scrutiny.
Intelligence link to violent sex worker attack
As part of building a picture of Greer’s activities, detectives obtained his mobile phone number, which had not previously been recorded on his personnel file, where only his home landline was listed.
When that number was run through intelligence databases, it matched a single piece of information from 2018. A Glasgow sex worker had reported that a client using that number had been violent towards her. At the time, there was nothing to indicate the man was a police officer.
Asked whether this had been a missed opportunity in 2018 to identify Greer’s offending, ACC Ratcliff told the BBC: “I am entirely satisfied that everything that could have been reasonably done at that time was done, and that there were no missed opportunities as a result of that information.”
The 2018 intelligence gave investigators a second line of inquiry and grounds to monitor Greer’s activity on police systems. They soon discovered he had been searching police records for any complaint linked to a particular phone number, which detectives established belonged to another Glasgow sex worker.
The pattern of checking for potential disclosures mirrored his behaviour after the 2012 rape and was viewed as a significant breakthrough.
Dawn raid and digital haul
With this evidence, officers secured a warrant from a sheriff to search Greer’s home and seize his devices.
On 24 April, in what was described internally as a “day of executive action”, officers raided his family home at dawn. Greer appeared shocked when he was arrested on suspicion of the 2012 rape.
Seven mobile phones and a laptop were taken away for examination. Greer was fingerprinted, had his DNA sampled and was suspended from duty before being released while inquiries continued. He was not interviewed.
It was only once forensic specialists started examining the devices that the scale of his alleged offending became apparent. Detectives recovered thousands of explicit videos and images indicating he had used hundreds of prostitutes during his police career.
Police are still less than halfway through analysing the material but have already identified five sex workers who appear to have been subjected to serious sexual assaults. Investigators believe that, had Greer been alive, they would have sought attempted murder charges in some cases due to the level of violence recorded.
Three further victims have been identified, including two female police officers whom Greer is said to have secretly photographed inappropriately while they were undergoing training.
Family ‘oblivious’ as double life uncovered
Greer was born in Australia in 1978 and moved to the UK at the age of six. He joined Strathclyde Police in 2009, before its merger into Police Scotland in 2013, and initially worked as a uniformed response officer in Glasgow.
Around 2016, he transferred to officer safety training, based in Coatbridge, where he taught new recruits and refreshed training for experienced officers. Colleagues and family are understood to have been “oblivious” to his secret life, and senior officers insist there were no earlier opportunities to identify his behaviour.
Greer was 47 when he died in May and left a wife and child. As evidence of his serial offending mounted, detectives took steps to ensure his family’s welfare. On 5 May, social work staff, accompanied by local officers, visited his home. Greer died by suicide the following day.
In the aftermath, Police Scotland used its internal communications system to notify staff that Greer had died while suspended and under criminal investigation. A source close to the inquiry told the BBC some colleagues viewed that as a “callous move” given the timing, but added that officers had been “totally in the dark” about the nature and extent of his alleged crimes.
‘Not Police Scotland’s Wayne Couzens moment’
One source involved in the case said the force was braced for this becoming “Police Scotland’s Wayne Couzens moment” – a reference to the former Metropolitan Police officer serving a whole-life sentence for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, after abusing his role to stage a fake arrest.
Couzens’ case exposed major failings in vetting and missed chances to intervene. ACC Ratcliff said she believed such a comparison with Greer was “unhelpful” and insisted there was no current evidence of missed red flags in his case.
“At this stage, we’ve got no evidence to suggest [missed red flags] is the case, but we absolutely keep that under review because one of the things that we have to do from inquiries of this nature is make sure that we capture and we take on board the lessons learned,” she said.
Ratcliff added that the vetting regime in Police Scotland is now “markedly different” from that in place when Greer joined Strathclyde Police in 2009, and argued he would not pass today’s checks.
Inquiry expected to last months
Specialist officers from units including the major incident team have been drafted in to support the anti-corruption inquiry, which is expected to continue for many months. Detectives believe Greer used multiple aliases and different phones to arrange sexual encounters, complicating efforts to trace victims.
Thousands of images and videos still have to be analysed and cross-referenced. While Greer cannot now face trial, Police Scotland says it is determined to establish the full extent of his offending and to support anyone who comes forward.
ACC Ratcliff appealed directly to potential victims: “If there is anyone who believes that they may have been a victim of Alan Greer, we would urge them to have the courage and confidence to come forward and tell us about it.
“They can be assured that we will listen, and that we will investigate, and we will do our best to make sure that they get the support that they need going forward.”
