Policeman who took own life was rapist who tried to kill women

Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sportSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy OLIVIA CHRISTIE, NEWS REPORTER Published: 19:22 BST, 23 July 2026 | Updated: 19:22 BST, 23 July 2026

A police officer who took his own life after being arrested was a violent rapist who was being probed for a spate of sexual attacks and attempted murders of women, it has been revealed.PC Alan Greer, 47, carried out the assaults over a period of at least 14 years, with his first known victim being a woman he raped inside her home in Glasgow in 2012.The woman, who had called the police to say she had been the victim of a crime, reported the sex attack by Greer late last year, starting an anti-corruption investigation.Detectives have so far identified at least eight further victims, five of whom were sex workers he assaulted while off duty.A source close to the case described the investigation to the BBC as ‘Police Scotland’s Wayne Couzens moment’.Couzens, a Metropolitan Police officer, was given a whole life term for the rape and murder of Sarah Everard in London in 2021. PC Alan Greer was a serial sex offenderThe violence used against some of Greer’s victims was so severe that if he was alive police would have sought charges of attempted murder, it was reported.Greer, who had a wife and child, reportedly used hundreds of prostitutes during his 17 years in the force.Two of his victims are understood to be female police officers who he took inappropriate photographs of while they were training.Greer was arrested on April 24 after a woman reported she was raped in her home in Glasgow in 2012 having called police to report being the victim of a crime.Officers from Police Scotland’s anti-corruption unit searched a property in the Wishaw area of Lanarkshire. He was released without charge and was suspended from duty, pending further investigations. Electronic devices were seized during the search and hundreds of graphic images and videos recovered.Officers were able to link him to one of the sexual assaults when they obtained a mobile phone number, which had been not included on his personnel file.After it was run through police databases, it was revealed that in 2018 a Glasgow sex worker had given intelligence indicating the owner of that phone number was a customer who had been violent. However, up until Greer’s arrest, police had been unable to attach the number to a name.Greer was found dead at his home on May 6.His family and colleagues are said to have been completely unaware of his violent double life.A source close to the investigation told the BBC: ‘It feels a bit like this could be Police Scotland’s Wayne Couzens moment.’Greer joined Strathclyde Police in 2009 before it merged with Police Scotland in 2013. He had 17 years of apparently unblemished service.Police Scotland is now appealing for any other victims to come forward and called the investigation ‘one of the largest and most complex ever undertaken by the anti-corruption unit’. Depraved Wayne Couzens murdered Sarah Everard in 2021Assistant Chief Constable Lynn Ratcliff said: ‘Clearly Alan Greer cannot stand trial for these allegations of serious violent sexual offending, including attempted murder, but this investigation is about identifying and supporting potential victims, giving them a voice, and establishing the full circumstances.‘I would encourage anyone with any information or who may be a victim to please come forward and speak to us.‘You will be listened to and given the support you need.’Justice Secretary Neil Gray said he had spoken to the chief constable about the ‘terrible’ case.He said: ‘The public place their trust in the police and for any officer to abuse that trust and the office they hold is truly heinous.‘The vast majority of officers serve to protect people and keep them safe, and the public should be confident about reporting any crime involving sexual violence to the police.’The inquiry team can be emailed at OperationSubmarine@scotland.police.uk. There is a mobile number with text facility at 07484 438 539 and a landline with voicemail at 0300 426 6644.