Taxi driver jailed for raping teenage passenger loses appeal against conviction

A Highland taxi driver, jailed for raping an 18-year-old passenger, has lost an appeal against his conviction and sentence.

David Brown from Croy near Inverness was sentenced to almost seven years in prison in May.

He attacked his female victim, who had been on a night out in Inverness, late at night in a layby, in December 2023.

He then abandoned her in sub-zero temperatures in Dingwall, where a Tesco worker went to her rescue.

The case prompted a public outcry when it emerged that male councillors on Highland Council’s licensing committee had agreed to allow Brown’s family to renew his taxi operator’s licence in his name to allow them to earn a living.

The six men outnumbered four female colleagues who voted against the move.

The revelation sparked public protests and an online petition calling for the licence to be revoked.

It also led to Liberal Democrat MSP Morven-May MacCallum to call for new legislation to automatically bar convicted sex offenders from holding taxi licences.

Earlier this month, 56 Highland councillors supported a vote of no-confidence in the six men on the committee. Six councillors disagreed.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has confirmed “the appeal proceedings for David Brown are now at an end”.