Midlothian crime: Rapist and former soldier Shaun Jewiss jailed after trying to meet woman over Doctor Who

Former soldier from Penicuik tried to arrange date with Doctor Who fan

A former soldier and convicted rapist has been jailed after breaching the terms of his Sexual Offences Prevention Order – due to his obsession with Doctor Who. Shaun Jewiss struck up an illegal friendship with a woman after the pair met online due to their shared love of the popular TV Time Lord.

The 50-year-old was also found to have breached the prevention order by downloading then deleting the dating app Grinder to his mobile phone. Jewiss was convicted of two rapes and a sexual assault in 2014 and was jailed for more than two years following a High Court trial.

He was placed on the SOPO which bans him from forming relationships without permission and monitors his use of electronic devices and the internet. The ex-King’s Own Scottish Borderers signaller has now been jailed again after admitting to breaching the order for the fourth time when he appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week.

Shaun Jewiss

Prosecutor Alan Wickham told the court police officers conducted a routine search of Jewiss’s mobile phone in May and found the Grinder chat app had been installed then deleted. The fiscal said a subsequent examination of the phone found Jewiss had also been messaging a woman “which related to a shared interest in Doctor Who” on February 2 this year.

He said: “During the two hours of messaging on that date it was suggested by [the woman] they meet for a coffee and the following day the accused cancelled that.”

‘An enviable collection of Doctor Who figurines’

Solicitor Ross Gardner, defending, said: “He was advised [last year] by his doctors he was entitled to have correspondence for the purpose of purchasing items and he made contact with the lady on eBay. The lady has an enviable collection of Doctor Who figurines and he purchased one and the conversation then extended to a potential meeting and watching Doctor Who episodes and discussing Doctor Who. He agreed to do that but the following day realised he was not able to do that.”

Mr Gardner told the court Jewiss had previously served in the British Army for 22 years including tours in Iraq, Kuwait and Northern Ireland. Sheriff Alison Stirling sentenced Jewiss, of Penicuik, Midlothian, to a 12 month jail term backdated to when he was remanded in custody in May.

The former serviceman was previously jailed for more than two years after he was convicted of two rapes and a sexual assault following a trial at the High Court in Livingston in 2014. The jury heard Jewiss used dating sites to search for kinky sex and after meeting a woman he sexually attacked her on several occasions between 2010 and 2014.

Jewiss also filmed himself sexually assaulting a second woman he had met online while her children were in the next room. Jewiss was then jailed for 10 months when he breached the SOPO for the first time by using his son’s mobile phone to contact a woman on Facebook in July 2019.

He was then handed a further 10 month jail term two years ago when he admitted breaching the order on three separate occasions between 2017 and 2020. The capital’s sheriff court heard Jewiss had duped one woman with learning difficulties into a three year sexual relationship.

He also secretly met with a disabled woman after meeting her on the Badoo dating site and deleted text messages from both women from his mobile phone in 2020.