A BORDERS man was dramatically acquitted of raping four women and abusing one of them with a sex toy in kinky sex sessions spanning 25 years.

A jury at the High Court in Livingston found Paul McGlasson, from Selkirk, not guilty of raping an ex-partner.

Jurors found five other sexual charges involving her and three of the accused’s former girlfriends not proven.

Judge Lady Haldane formally acquitted McGlasson, 47, and told him he was free to go. He hugged a man and woman in the public gallery before leaving court without comment.

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During his week-long trial one of McGlasson’s alleged victims claimed that he sexually penetrated her with a carrot when he could not get an erection.

Another claimed he jammed an anal sex toy into her back passage without her consent.

McGlasson denied all the charges but did not give evidence in his own defence.

However, his daughter Cerys, 18, told the jury that one of the complainers had told her his former partners were “banding together to bring him down”.

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Another Selkirk resident Rory Barnes, 42, said that three weeks before McGlasson was arrested in 2019 he also had a conversation with the same woman.

He told the court: “She said that Paul was due her money and if he didn’t pay her she and his ex-partners were ‘coming together to take him down’.

Under cross examination by advocate depute Eric Robertson Mr Barnes added: “This is a set-up and a conspiracy against Mr McGlasson. This is a miscarriage of justice that he’s in the dock.”

The jury concluded that there was sufficient doubt to return verdicts which resulted in McGlasson's acquittal.