A violent romance scammer was today sentenced for attacking and defrauding one woman, but The Press and Journal can reveal his behaviour is part of a 20-year campaign of coercion against at least four others.
Aberdeen man Scott Bruce Fraser spent two decades travelling the length and breadth of the UK scouting for new victims.
Today, The P&J lays bare the true extent of his offending.
This newspaper can now report how Fraser:
- Got a tattoo featuring a dead baby and brother to gain sympathy from victims – but these ‘relatives’ never existed.
- Punched a pregnant woman in the stomach.
- Targeted one woman because her elderly father was a well-off TV celebrity.
- Locked a woman in the house and cut the phone lines so she couldn’t contact the outside world.
- Repeatedly lied about having cancer.
- Violently attacked multiple women due to his penchant for knives.
- Tried to strangle only victim with a dressing-gown cord.
- Defrauded at least four women out of almost £400,000.
Fraser, now 56, has lived at or had business links with various addresses in Aberdeen and his most recent address in the city was in Prospect Place, Westhill.
Conman did not respond to victim’s claims
We put a summary of all of the accounts we are going to detail below to Fraser’s lawyer who did not offer a statement or interview.
And when we tried to question Fraser outside court today, he put his phone to his ear and fled in a £70,000 Land Rover Discovery with a private number plate that was blocking traffic to pick him up.
After Fraser’s first marriage to a woman named Lisa broke down in Aberdeen, he went to England.
In the north, Fraser met a woman we are calling Violet around 2000.
She asked not to be named as she doesn’t want her kids to know what he did to her.
Violet gave a statement to prosecutors that she would have repeated under oath had Fraser stood trial.
She has agreed for us to tell her story from those documents.
Threatened Violet with a knife
The relationship began to turn sour when the couple opened a joint account.
Funds in it were for bills but Fraser helped himself.
He would also act in an extremely coercive manner towards Violet.
It began with Fraser blaming her for his own aggressive behaviour and with him repeatedly lying to her.
Things came to a head when Fraser tried to deny Violet’s daughter from seeing relatives and expressing anger about it.
Fraser would hurl insults towards Violet and things got worse.
He began banning her from talking to pals and demanding to know her movements.
The conman’s aggression spun out of control and on one occasion Fraser violently assaulted her using his weapon of choice.
Another of his victims, Helen O’Connor said: “He loves knives. Scott uses them to threaten women.”
We know of three credible reports of Fraser threatening women with knives, supported by victim statements and court documents.
One night, Fraser was angry and grabbed a knife.
He held it to Violet’s throat, grabbed her hair and forced her to the ground before shouting at her and punching her in the face.
Thug assaulted a pregnant woman
In today’s court hearing, his lawyer suggested Fraser’s offending was isolated to between 2019 and 2021 because he had lost his job and was struggling with mental health problems.
However, his behaviour towards Violet was very similar and that came 18 years earlier.
There was one particularly distressing incident that was even more heinous.
One day, Fraser and Violet were travelling together in a car in northern England when he took exception to something she said.
He reached over to her and punched her in the stomach. She was pregnant at the time.
For Violet, it was the final straw, and the relationship finally ended in October 2009.
A few years later, when Fraser was 44, he met an Aberdeen woman on a dating website and they got together in 2013.
‘The tattoo referring to the dead baby didn’t add up’
She asked not to be named because what Fraser did to her left her in a domestic violence refuge and she is still scared of him.
We are calling her Trish.
Trish told us: “He appeared to be a normal guy with a lot going for him.
“Back then he was working for a Norwegian firm as an asset and integrity manager.
“He was earning £20,000 a month, wearing fancy suits, driving around in a Porsche.
“He had an Audi A8 and a Land Rover.
“His image was everything to him.
“On our first date, I saw his arm.
‘She told me – the baby never existed’
“He has, I think, a feather image and the initials of two people and then dates next to them.
“Scott said it was too painful to talk about.
“Later, he said one set of initials was for his baby boy who died aged six months and the other set was his dead brother.
“But it didn’t add up.
“Why weren’t there photos of them at his mum’s house?
“Why, at his mum’s funeral, did people mention Scott and his daughter in speeches, but not this dead brother and baby?
“Much later, when I ended up in a domestic violence refuge, my case worker dug into the records.
“She told me ‘the baby never existed’.”
‘He invented chemo and the baby to get money out of people’
It was suggested in court today that when Fraser’s behaviour towards his latest victim – including lying about undergoing chemotherapy – was isolated.
But, in fact, his lying about cancer and lost loved ones spans many years and multiple women.
Trish was asked why she thinks Fraser invented the baby and brother.
She answered: “For exactly one purpose – to tell a story.
“So he could use the sympathy women gave him to get money out of them.”
In the early days of their relationship, everything was good, but this changed slowly.
Trish explained: “The first thing was his temper – over little things.
“He was jealous of everything and everyone I spent time with or mentioned.
‘I put thousands in his firm and never got it back’
“Our rent was £2,500 a month. He never paid.
“We’d be out shopping and he’d say, ‘I’ve left my wallet at home, can you pay?’
“I bought him a £2,000 watch and many other things and he never paid me back.”
Companies House records show a firm named OIM Energy Group was founded at an address in East Craibstone Street, Aberdeen, in June 2014.
Fraser became a director in May 2015.
Trish added: “He was always pestering me to put money into it. He wanted me to take out loans to invest in OIM.
“I did give him a few thousand pounds for that and he never paid me back.”
‘I’m still paying off his debt a decade on’
Records show Fraser’s director role with OIM ended in August 2015 – three months after he joined.
Trish said: “All that was bad. He left me in debt of tens of thousands of pounds that I’m still paying off today – almost a decade later.
“But the deceit and manipulation was worse.”
Trish said Fraser told her his ex-wife’s dad died and his daughter was upset.
“Scott told me his daughter wanted to see him and that she did not want me there for some reason.
“Trying to be understanding, I paid for him to go there and to buy his daughter some nice things – three weekends in total.
‘He spent my money on another woman’s shoes’
“It was all lies.
“He was instead going to Berkshire to meet the woman he was cheating on me with, and he used my money to buy her a pair of Louboutin shoes.”
That woman was Helen O’Connor, who we will hear from later.
Trish said: “I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Helen or any of the other women involved.
“This is all about Scott.”
One Christmas – either 2015 or 2016 – Scott’s company hosted a festive party at the Treetops Hotel on Springfield Road, Aberdeen.
Trish said: “Scott was behaving really inappropriately, and saying hurtful things to me in front of his colleagues so I asked him if we could leave the party.
Hotel worker witnessed assault
“We were staying at the hotel. I remember him hitting me and then he dragged me by the hair up the stairs and into the hotel room.”
A member of staff saw this and called the police, who attended the room and found Trish in tears.
They arrested Fraser and he admitted an offence at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, for which he received a fine.
Then, in the summer of 2017, there was a further incident.
Trish said: “He was becoming jealous about me spending time without him and it would make him angry.
“There was one day when he got a dressing-gown cord and tried to throttle me with it.
“I was screaming and the neighbours heard, but they couldn’t tell where the noise was coming from. I was petrified.
‘Police had to force their way in’
“I told him I was going to leave him so he locked me in the house.
“He took all the keys and left. I managed to get hold of someone and the police came to smash down the door.”
Fraser was arrested and again appeared before a sheriff in Aberdeen and admitted an offence, for which he was fined.
Trish said: “I wanted him to go to prison.
“I wanted to get as far away from him as possible and I was very fearful he would find me.
“I ended up in a refuge and it was the domestic violence worker who did the research and found out that his dead baby son was non-existent.”
‘He targeted my famous dad’s cash’
Fraser’s next victim was Helen O’Connor whose father is the late comedian and TV presenter Tom O’Connor.
Tom carved out an extremely successful screen career and hosted smash-hit shows such as Crosswits and Name That Tune.
Helen, of Berkshire in Southern England, said: “I’ve no doubt that Scott targeted me because of who my dad is.
“He knew my dad made a lot of money in his career and he wanted it from me.
“That’s why my family was warning me to make sure I made Scott sign a prenup before we got married.
“Scott’s got a common theme. He seems to be attracted to women whose parents have got money.”
Explaining how they met, Helen said: “I knew him from 2007 and we had dated briefly.
‘He pretended to go to work each day’
“I didn’t know at that point that he was married (to Violet).
“I myself had just come out of a divorce and didn’t want anything serious so he kept away.
“Scott and I then reconnected in 2016, by which time he was divorced.
“I obviously had no idea he was in a relationship with Trish.
“Scott found me through my sister’s Facebook profile.
“He would fly down from Aberdeen to see me, lay it on thick, and tell me anything I wanted to hear.
“We rented a five-bedroom house in Bracknell where the monthly rent was £2,500.
“It was always me who paid, though we signed a joint lease.
“He told me he would get a job but never did. In fact, I got him a job at London Waste.
“Scott left the company after three months, but would leave the house each morning pretending to go to work.”
The pair decided they would wed at a pub in Glasgow on New Year’s Day 2017.
‘My family begged me to sign a prenup’
Helen was his third wife. She said, at the time, Fraser told her she was his second.
Helen said: “My mum and my sister said, ‘You need to get a prenup, we’re worried about this guy’.
“I’m glad I listened to them.”
But there were times when Helen did give Fraser his way.
He asked her to take out two car loans totalling £65,000 in February 2017 and promised to pay her back via his company, Opex Energy Services.
However, his company folded and Helen said he never repaid her.
“My monthly outgoings were in the thousands due to the cars, rent of £2,500 and other bills, because Scott wasn’t paying his share.
“This all mounted up over two years.”
‘My watch made him jealous so he attacked me’
In all, Helen was left £100,000 out of pocket because of Fraser’s actions.
As the relationship progressed, Fraser began to get jealous, and he expressed it with rage.
Everything Helen has told us is supported by a statement she provided to the Crown.
She was prepared to be questioned under oath had Fraser’s latest case gone to trial.
Helen told us: “One time he started talking about my watch.
“I’d been given this watch by a previous boyfriend.
“Scott just could not cope with the fact that I had this watch because all his watches were fake and because the person who had given it to me, he despised.”
Court documents show that, on that occasion, Fraser pinned Helen to the sofa and seized the watch from her wrist.
Later, Fraser told her he had ‘lost’ the watch, Helen said.
False cancer diagnoses
She added: “We had £50 go missing from a bedroom draw. It was him and he lied, to say it was one of my children who did it.
“I cannot believe that the justice system is allowing that man to walk around.
“His daughter is so hurt by what he has done, she will have nothing to do with him.”
As the relationship deteriorated and Helen asked Fraser to contribute financially, he stooped lower.
According to court records, he told Helen that he was contemplating suicide and that he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer – but that was not true.
‘We have no record of it’
Like Trish, Helen noticed Fraser’s tattoo and heard stories about his dead son, who he referred to as ‘James’ – but nothing added up.
“I got to the point where I had enough. My brother was saying to me, ‘Helen, this isn’t right, call (Aberdeen) crematorium’.
“I called the crematorium and asked them, ‘Is there a child, James Fraser, buried there?’ and they said, ‘We have no record of it’.
“I didn’t want to make that call because, once I scratched the surface of his lies, I didn’t know where it would lead.”
That was the final straw for Helen.
“By March 2017, I rumbled him,” she said.
Fraser refused to let her leave home
“My daughter saw him on the street with another woman.
“I didn’t feel safe in my own home because he was becoming aggressive.
“I told him he needed to leave and he refused.
“He told me he had cancer, but refused to go to hospital or have any treatment.”
At the very end, Fraser became aggressive, controlled Helen’s movements and refused to let her leave the house.
However, she managed to escape to safety and move out of the property.
Court apology from Fraser to latest victim
Fraser’s next victim was Debbie McFarlane – the subject of today’s court case.
And there were familiar patterns in Fraser’s behaviour towards Debbie.
He lied to her about having cancer, got money out of her under false pretences, prevented her from leaving the house and threatened her with a knife.
The court heard today how Fraser wanted to make a public apology to Debbie for his behaviour, which he said was unacceptable.
In 2018, Helen received a message from Fraser’s first wife, Lisa, who was concerned that Debbie was marrying Fraser.
Helen said to Lisa: “I married Scott and he left me in a mess financially.”
Lisa replied: “I’m so sorry – I know how it feels. I was his first wife.
‘He’s always been a conman’
“You may have heard lots of horrible things about me (from Fraser) that are not true.
“I promise you I’m not mad.
“I heard he was getting married again. I hoped he’d changed. This brings back so many memories.
Helen asked: “Has he always been a conman?”
Lisa replied: “I’m afraid so. He landed me in so much debt and walked away.
“He was also violent. He was, and still is, a horrible person.
“Scott caused me broken bones and numerous black eyes.
‘I was told he had a brother, but it’s not true’
“But, when he got smarter over time, he would only hit me where other people couldn’t see the bruises.
“He even pulled a knife on my mum.
“I was told he had a brother, but that was not true.”
After today’s hearing, Debbie said: “I still feel violated by what he did to me.
“For someone to actually target me and become that close, I can’t believe it really happened to me.
“I often ask myself, ‘Did I really live through this nightmare? Did it really happen?’
“For him to pretend that he had cancer is awful,” she said.
“Scott Fraser is a conman.
‘His biggest fear is people knowing what he’s done’
“I came forward and reported him to the police because I don’t want this to happen to any other women – this stops here.
“He is a huge danger to women. He knows the system.
“We are talking about someone who has made this his living.
“He’ll never stop. The only thing that might stop him is if he kills somebody.
“How callous can one person be?
“His biggest fear is that this gets out there, and people know what he’s done.
“That will ‘kill’ him, because, where does he go from there when it’s all out there?
“He has no moral compass. He’s a narcissist, and when things aren’t going his way, he becomes a violent, man.”
Pressure to keep up appearances
In mitigation during today’s court hearing, Fraser’s lawyer Ian Woodward-Nutt said: “The man has struggled with poor mental health and refused to seek medical intervention.
“In a sense, Mr Fraser fell into the wealth trap.
“He achieved some degree of success in his career and he began to enjoy the trappings of the lifestyle that went with it.
“But, as time went on, the pressure from peers and colleagues to keep up appearances, and it was against that background, that difficulties ensued.
“Because around the time of Covid (2020)…he was effectively rendered unemployed for a period of around 18 months.
‘He was ashamed and embarrassed’
“It was a combination of these factors that unfortunately led later on to him drinking to excess and a problematic relationship with alcohol.
“Inevitably that made matters worse with regards to his mood and his feelings of worthlessness.
“He was trying to keep up appearances but became increasingly ashamed and embarrassed by the situation, particularly because he borrowed money from those who financially supported him.
“While some repayment was made, he accepts that he failed to repay off some.
“He developed paranoia and suicidal ideation. Not of this serves to excuse his behaviour (towards Debbie McFarlane).
‘Fraser will be punished in the court of public opinion’
“He does not seek to minimise the seriousness of what he’s done or seek to apportion blame elsewhere.
“Punishment from the criminal court today will extend further to that.
“He is going to be punished in the court of public opinion.”
Mr Woodward-Nutt then made reference to this article, describing it as “a deep dive”.
He added: “Of course, it’s accepted the complainer has every reason and every right to react just how she chooses to the accused (in speaking to the press).
“There will be significant ramifications beyond the four walls of this court.
“His employer will take a view after this hearing.”
Now lives in leafy Cheshire
Trish told us: “He still scares me now.
“I’m really, seriously worried that one day, Scott is going to go on to kill someone.”
According to court papers, Fraser is now living in an apartment in the leafy Cheshire town of Bollington.
Helen said: “For me, it’s no coincidence that Scott happens to live near to rich footballers and their wives – but who knows what he has planned next?”
Read more:
Romance conman avoids jail after fake cancer scam to take £50k from partner
Have you been affected by this story? You can call our investigations reporter Dale Haslam on 01224 344 169 or email dale.haslam@ajl.co.uk