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An athletics champion secretly recorded her former ‘best friend’ admitting to raping her – with the crucial evidence leading to his conviction and a five-year jail term.
Ellie Wilson – who has waived her right to anonymity – was attacked by her ‘remorseless’ on-off boyfriend Daniel McFarlane between December 2017 and February 2018.
One on occasion, the ‘evil’ predator continued to violate her as she wept and begged him to stop before he chillingly told her ‘his temporary pleasure was worth more than [her] temporary pain’.
But the callous sex offender was finally caught out in 2019, after Miss Wilson recorded a conversation where she asked McFarlane why he had lied about the crimes, prompting him to reply: ‘We’ve already established that I have.’
Ellie Wilson (above) has bravely spoken out about the harrowing ordeal at the hands of rapist Daniel McFarlane
McFarlane replies: ‘Ellie, we’ve already established that I have, but the people who need to believe me, believe me.’
‘But they are believing a lie,’ Ms Wilson says.
‘I’ll tell them the truth one day but not today,’ says McFarlene, from Iverness, Scotland.
‘Will you tell them the truth about what you’ve done to me? How do you feel about it?’Ms Wilson says.
‘I feel good knowing that I’m not in prison,’ McFarlene callously replies.
The recording proved crucial in the downfall of monster McFarlene, who was last year sentenced to five years in prison for two counts of rape and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
Now Ms Wilson has spoken out about her harrowing ordeal at the hands of McFarlene as she today admitted he had ‘stolen her bright future’ away from her.
The 25-year-old from Glasgow said she had been trapped in a vicious cycle of ’emotional control and gas lighting’ as McFarlene toyed with her feelings.
Miss Wilson said the abuse she faced at the hands of McFarlane (right) – who was jailed last year for two counts of rape – had left her so traumatised she even tried to take her own life. She is pictured with McFarlane, who had coached her on the student athletics team at university
So relentless was the abuse and trauma, it drove Ms Wilson to try and take her own life in 2019, leaving her needing urgent treatment in hospital to save her life.
‘It was really scary,’ she said, recounting McFarlene had been acting ‘erratically’ on the day of the recording. ‘I was terrified he was going to realise what I was doing.
‘I was worried he would use physical violence on me… He strangled me on that day of that recording to the point I lost consciousness.
‘We had had a conversation the night before that day. I asked him why he raped me. He said his temporary pleasure was worth more than my temporary pain. It was messed up.’
Miss Wilson had met him in 2017 through student athletics and they became ‘best friends’ straight away, she told MailOnline.
The pair had an on-off relationship, with McFarlane acting as her coach while she attended the University of Glasgow.
After McFarlene attacked her she tried to cut off contact but the ’emotional manipulator’ continued to ‘worm his way back’ into her life.
He would threaten and degrade her, she said, as he spoke openly about how he had raped her in a chilling ‘matter-of-fact’ way.
He would bombard her with messages on social media, ordering her to ‘stop drinking, going out and doing things wh***s do’, labelling her a ‘perpetual flirt’.
He even used the fact he raped her as a form of emotional blackmail. Miss Wilson claimed.
McFarlane would bombard Miss Wilson with abusive messages over social media, where he would degrade her and admit to raping her
‘He would speak about it in a very matter-of-fact way. He had a total lack of remorse,’ the masters graduate said.
‘The level of emotional manipulation was so bad, that at one point he was crying on my bedroom floor saying he was a monster and rapist.
‘I then had to comfort him – the man who raped me. It was appalling… There was a lot of emotional manipulation and gas lighting.’
She reported McFarlane to the police in 2020 and he was suspended from the University of Glasgow.
Later, Miss Wilson discovered he had been able to enroll at The University of Edinburgh – while he was awaiting trial – after seeing a picture of him at a student sporting event on Facebook.
‘I had stopped athletics after reporting Daniel because I was worried about running into him,’ she told The Sun.
Miss Wilson said she had been left with post-traumatic stress disorder from McFarlane’s relentless abuse – which included a stream of messages over social media.
‘I had tried at that point to get away from him. Instead, I got stopped. I got threatening videos and messages. He would send videos of him burning pictures of me. Then he would threaten suicide himself,’ she said.
Miss Wilson, a champion student sprinter, said her ‘bright future’ had been snatched away from her by rapist McFarlane
In court, Miss Wilson was forced to recount her trauma in harrowing detail, as she was ‘brutally’ cross-examined by her abuser’s defence counsel.
‘I was struggling with my mental health around the trial,’ admitted Miss Wilson. ‘I was worried I would hurt myself seriously if he was acquitted.
‘When he was found guilty I felt I could live my life. I felt so relieved.’
Miss Wilson branded McFarlane’s abuse as ‘domestic violence’ and said that it had ruined her life.
She added: ‘He stole my bright future. I will always think about the things I could have gone on to do if it wasn’t for him. My whole outlook on the world has completely changed.
‘I loved him a lot. There are times when I feel guilty that he is in prison and having a hard time in there. But it’s important. He is not remorseful. He doesn’t care. He probably never loved me and is incapable of love.’
Miss Wilson is now working with Universities Scotland and the Scottish Government to find ways to better protect students and ensure their safety and well-being.
