Police officer who killed himself was violent rapist who tried to murder women

A police officer dubbed Scotland's Wayne Couzens killed himself after carrying out a 14-year spree of rapes and attempted murders, it was revealed today.

PC Alan Greer took his own life in May, but his 'truly shocking' crimes were not revealed by Police Scotland until two months after his death.

The 47-year-old was a married father-of-one with his wife and family said to be completely 'oblivious' to his double life and crimes.

Senior officers have insisted that there were no 'red flags' to spot his years of offending - but a source close to the investigation has said: 'This could be Police Scotland's Wayne Couzens moment.

'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 killed himself on May 6 this year. His colleagues had only been told via the force's intranet that he had died while suspended and under criminal investigation.

But detectives have discovered that he had nine victims, five of whom were sex workers. In several cases the sex attacks were so violent they constituted attempted murder.

He had used multiple pseudonyms and at least seven phones to hide his identity and crimes.

Australian-born Greer, who came to the UK as a child, had 17 years of apparently unblemished service with Strathclyde Police and then Police Scotland.

But a woman came forward in late 2025 to say that he had raped her in 2012.

She had been a victim of a crime and police were called to check on her. Hours later Greer apparently came back to check again and raped her.

After she gave a statement to anti-corruption officers earlier this year, on April 24, police raided his home and arrested him. He had seven mobile phones and a laptop seized.

Thousands of graphic sexual videos and images were recovered and revealed that he had used hundreds of prostitutes.

Detectives are still going through those videos and found that at least five were raped or sexually assaulted and some constituted attempted murder. 

There were also a number of secret photographs he had taken of female colleagues while they were training. 

Greer killed himself in early May.

Assistant Chief Constable Lynn Ratcliff, gold commander for the investigation, said: 'This officer has clearly abused his power and has revisited someone that he's encountered in the course of his duties.

'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.'

A police source has compared him to PC Wayne Couzens, who used his job to commit heinous crimes.

Sarah Everard, 33, was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 2021 by Couzens as she walked home from a friend's house in Clapham, south London.

She was snatched from the street as she was walking home from a friend's house towards Brixton on March 3, 2021. 

A major Metropolitan Police investigation was launched and her body was found a week later in woodland in Kent. Couzens is serving a whole-life.

His case revealed major vetting failures at the Met and he had even exposed himself at a McDonald's drive-thru days before he murdered Sarah but was not properly pursued. 

ACC Ratcliff said the comparison between Greer and Couzens was unhelpful.

She told the BBC: '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.'