Google MapsA Scots-born headteacher extradited from Spain has been convicted of sexual abuse against two women.
James Berry preyed on his victims but insisted to jurors he had been the target of a “criminal conspiracy”.
The crimes mainly occurred between 1963 and 1987 in Glasgow and Renfrewshire.
The 77-year-old is the owner and headteacher of the exclusive British school King Richard III College in Mallorca, where he has lived for the past 30 years.
However, Berry was hauled back to Scotland in 2019 to face justice.
The pensioner is now behind bars after he was found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday of a total of five charges including raping both women.
Berry will be sentenced next month.
The trial heard how the teacher struck at a house in Glasgow’s Govan as well as others in the city’s Crookston as well as in Renfrew and Houston, Renfrewshire.
He was also said to have been abusive in Spain and Canada.
The oldest of the two victims once told a priest how she had suffered.
Berry insisted it was “rubbish” that he had been “controlling” with the woman.
He told the court: “I was not a dictator.”
But, prosecutors said the woman suffered at his violent hands including being sexually assaulted, punched and grabbed by the throat.
The second victim also suffered a harrowing ordeal which occurred at Glasgow’s Hilton Hotel and during a driving lesson.
Quizzed about the allegations from her by his QC Claire Mitchell, Berry said: “She was never abused. I can assure you.”
He claimed “things had been brought up in her imagination”.
Ms Mitchell put to him at one stage: “It is said you ordered her to do things, she was compliant and scared of you.
“That she did your bidding sexually?”
Berry responded: “No.”
Berry said this victim had made allegations as part of a “criminal conspiracy” to take over his school.
He told jurors: “I have been teaching for 50 years and I have a perfect record.”
Prosecutor Kath Harper later put to Berry, that if he was telling the truth, he was the target of “horrific allegations”.
He maintained: “Yes.”
After the verdict, Ms Harper told jurors Berry had been brought back to Scotland in 2019 on a European Arrest Warrant.
He had been living near a golf course in Santa Ponsa in Mallorca with his wife and three young children.
Judge Thomas Welsh QC deferred sentencing for reports until February 28 in Edinburgh.
He told Berry: “I am not prepared to continue bail, so you will be remanded meantime.”
Berry had been accompanied during the trial by a woman who works with him at the school in Spain.
He waved to her as he was led to the cells.
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