Serial abuser handed life sentence for attacking women in Scottish Highlands

A serial abuser who throttled women during a campaign of violence that spanned more than three decades has been sentenced to an order for lifelong restriction.

Bruce Buchanan, 61, subjected one woman to rape three times, and during an attack squeezed her throat and forced his hand into her mouth.

He also verbally and physically abused the victim at addresses in the Scottish Highlands.

A court heard how Buchanan threatened the woman while armed with a knife and also sat on her and pressed his thumbs into her eyes during his abuse.

Jurors were also told of how he grabbed a second woman by the nose, compressed it while threatening her, and forced her to the ground during an attack.

During an assault on a third woman, Buchanan pinned her arms behind her back and gripped her by the throat, restricting her breathing.

The abuser, formerly of Croy in the Highlands, denied any wrongdoing but was convicted of seven offences following a trial.

His crimes included four assaults, two rapes, and a single count of rape and assault to severe injury and danger of life.

Buchanan's offending began in June 1986 and continued until June 2017.

Judge Lord Fairley said the most troubling aspect of the evidence was his propensity to choke or asphyxiate victims during the violence, one of whom feared she would die.

At the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday, Buchanan was sentenced to an order for lifelong restriction (OLR) with a minimum of five years in jail.

An OLR is a sentence usually reserved for the most serious court cases in Scotland that do not involve murder.

If Buchanan is ever released back into the community, he will remain under a lifelong risk management plan.

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Lord Fairley highlighted a risk assessment, stating: "You display problems with emotional management, chronic low self-esteem, jealousy, paranoia, negative attitudes in relationships and the need to control those close to you.

"You have few protective factors, and the drivers for your offending have not diminished with age.

"It is the assessor's view that your patterns of behaviour are fixed, your thinking inflexible and your insight limited.

"Your attitude to your offending does not demonstrate any internal desire to change and your levels of denial and your failure to acknowledge that your behaviour is problematic will make it difficult for treatment providers to undertake any meaningful offender behaviour work with you."

As well as the OLR, Buchanan was banned from contacting the three women and has been added to the sex offenders' register for life.

(c) Sky News 2026: Serial abuser handed life sentence for attacking women in Scottish Highlands