I was raped by my ‘best friend’ – he tried to hide his crimes after sinister messages but my bold plan caught him out

PRESSING record on her phone and carefully placing it in her bag, Ellie Wilson nervously approached the man who raped her. 

The student and athletics champion hoped to capture former “best friend” Daniel McFarlane confessing to his horrific crimes after the monster denied it multiple times.

McFarlane, from Inverness, Scotland, attacked Ellie - who has waived her right to anonymity - between December 2017 and February 2018.

Afterwards, he claimed no one would believe her and later forced a friend to delete messages where he admitted having done "despicable" things.

In her secret 2019 recording, she asked McFarlane why he lied about committing the attacks and he replied: "We’ve already established that I have.”

Last July, he was sentenced to five years in prison for two counts of rape and attempting to defeat the ends of justice after a trial at the High Court, in Glasgow.

Ellie, now 25, told The Sun, that she initially "couldn't accept what Daniel had done" and was being "manipulated" by her former friend.

She said: “I found strength when I had a bit of time away from him and decided I needed concrete proof of the rape because he would go between saying he raped me and saying he never raped me at all.

“He tried to convince me it was all in my head and gaslit me. For my own mental health, I knew I needed to record him admitting what he did.

“I was honestly terrified. I was worried he was going to think something was off, get suspicious and find my phone.

“Later, while listening to it, I thought ‘My goodness, it actually worked’ and it became really, really important evidence in court.”

'Best friend' to monster

Ellie met McFarlane through student athletics in 2017, describing how they “pretty much became best friends” straight away before he became her coach.

After the harrowing attacks, however, she was left in utter disbelief about what had happened and cried herself to sleep.

She explains how she tried to cut off contact with McFarlane and during that time, he admitted what he had done to a friend.

The court heard he texted the friend to say he had done “despicable” things, before pressuring them to delete the messages.

McFarlane made no admission after being found guilty and continues to deny wrongdoing.

Ellie describes her relationship with him as “emotionally manipulative” and said she could spend long periods of time without speaking to him, only for McFarlane to “worm his way back into my life”.

Cruel twist

In 2019, the emotional toll of what she went through led to a suicide attempt, which required a hospital stay and medical care.

Months later, Ellie decided to secretly record McFarlane admitting to what he had done. In court, he claimed they were “false admissions”.

She reported McFarlane to the police in 2020 and he was suspended from the University of Glasgow, which they both attended.

Later, Ellie discovered he had been able to enrol at The University of Edinburgh - while he was awaiting trial - after seeing a photo of her attacker at a student sporting event on Facebook.