DISGRACED

Married officer is jailed over 4-year relationship he began with teenagé rape victim during case

-  ALEX LAWRIE

A POLICE officer who started a sexual relationship with a teenage rape victim then begged her to destroy evidence of their affair has been jailed.

PC Gavin Donaldson, 45, was helping to investigate claims of sexual assault and domestic abuse made by 17-year-old Anisha Yaseen when he took advantage of his position.

The married dad-of-one and the vulnerable teen exchanged nearly 30,000 messages during their consensual four-year relationship.

But when the disgraced officer was being investigated by Police Scotland's anti-corruption unit, he bombarded Anisha with requests to delete all their messages and told her not to hand her mobile phone over to police.

Donaldson pled guilty to a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice over two days in November 2020 when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.