SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Lady Ross made the following remarks in court:

" Jack Bruce.  On 28 January 2026, after trial at the High Court in Stirling, the jury convicted you of 10 charges, comprising four charges of rape, one of attempted rape, one of sexual assault by penetration and four charges, put broadly, of domestic abuse.  You gave evidence at trial.  You denied all the allegations made – except where you were confronted with actual recordings of your abusive behaviour – and you repeatedly said that you couldn’t remember or couldn’t recall how things had been.  Let me tell you. 

Over a period of about eight years, you were in a series of relationships with three young women.  There was a pattern to these relationships.  To begin with, you were nice.  But then, very quickly, you became jealous, controlling, aggressive and abusive.  You made accusations of infidelity, you insisted on checking your partners’ phones, you isolated them and you constantly pestered them for sex.  But that wasn’t the worst of it.  With each of these young women, and repeatedly, you made them have sex when that wasn’t what they wanted.  They didn’t consent.  That’s rape.  You were determined to have anal sex, against your partners’ wishes.  And sometimes, you would take them by the neck and choke them.  This was a sustained campaign of brutal and degrading sexual and domestic abuse.

Your abuse has had, and continues to have, horrible consequences for these three women.  Two of them has provided victim impact statements and it is painfully clear that the torment you inflicted has caused serious and continuing psychological harm.  Having also heard the evidence at trial, it is clear to me that that suffering is part of a pattern, for which you are responsible.

I have considered carefully all that is contained in the criminal justice social work report, and I have listened to what Mr Crosbie has said on your behalf this morning.  The report spells out that you continue to deny responsibility, and that you blame your victims, apparently believing that these three women somehow conspired against you.  That is a self-serving attempt to deflect the reality of your situation.  You are now 30 years old.  You have one previous conviction, but it relates to something that happened a long time ago and it is of no real significance.  You had a stable upbringing and you have a good record of employment.  You have some support from family members and from your current partner.  In some ways, that is very positive.  The author of the report indicates that those close to you might think you are not the sort of person who would rape and abuse his partners.  But this needs to be made clear: you are that sort of person, and that is what you have done.

You need to face up to that.  It will be very important for you to draw on the support that will be provided to you and to engage with the work that will be needed to help you address your behaviour and the problems that you obviously have in your attitude towards women.  You are still young.  There will be scope for you to learn about healthy relationships and about proper respect for other people, especially women.  It’s important that you do that.

There are concerns identified in the justice social work report about the risks that you may continue to present, and in particular the risk of similar offending within future intimate relationships.  I am satisfied that the test for an extended sentence is met.  The period for which you would otherwise have been on licence would not be adequate to protect the public from serious harm from you when you are eventually released.  Your sentence is in two parts.  I will deal first with the custodial part.  This will be an immediate period in custody.

Had I been imposing sentences in respect of each of the charges separately, or in separate groups, I would have approached the exercise in the following way.

In respect of charge 1, I would have imposed a sentence of imprisonment for 18 months.

In respect of charges 2 and 3, rape and attempted rape, I would have dealt with these together and would have imposed a sentence in cumulo of imprisonment for 7 years.

In respect of charges 5 and 6, domestic abuse offences, I would have dealt with these together and would have imposed a sentence in cumulo of imprisonment for 3 years.  Of that, I would have attributed 6 months to the aggravation related to the involvement of a child in the offence.

In respect of charges 7 and 8, these being charges of rape on multiple occasions and a separate rape charge, I would also have dealt with these together and I would have imposed a sentence in cumulo of imprisonment for 9 years.

In respect of charge 9, I would have imposed a sentence of imprisonment for 2 years.

In respect of charges 10 and 11, rape and sexual assault by penetration, I would again have dealt with these together and would have imposed a sentence in cumulo of imprisonment for 8 years.

Were these sentences to be served separately, the total would be excessive.  I will impose a single sentence covering all of these charges together, that is in cumulo.  This is in respect of the first part, the custodial part, of your sentence.  That will be for a period of 11 years.

That will not be the end of your sentence.  As I have already mentioned, there will be an extension period.  The second part of your sentence will be served in the community.  From the date of your release, you will be under licence for an extension period of 2 years.  The conditions of your licence will be fixed by the Scottish Ministers.  If, during this extension period, you fail to comply with the conditions of your licence, it may be revoked, and you may be returned to custody for a further period in respect of this case.  The court also has power to deal with you if you commit another offence after your release and while you are on licence.  The total length of your sentence is 13 years.  It will be backdated to 28 January 2026, that being the date when you were first remanded in custody. 

At the end of the trial, I stated that you would be subject to the notification requirements in terms of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.  That will be for an indefinite period.  I also directed that notification be made to the Scottish Ministers in terms of the relevant provisions of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act.

Finally, I make non harassment orders in relation to each of the complainers.