Man sentenced for domestic abuse offences

Published 31 January 2020

A man was yesterday, Thursday, 30 January, 2020 sentenced to six years in prison for sexual abuse offences committed against two women.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Stephen Best was sentenced after being found guilty on 17 December 2019 for two offences of sexual abuse, which included two counts of rape.

The 36-year-old became the subject of a major investigation by Fife's Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit in 2017 after one of the women reported offences dating back to 2003, which took place in Fife and Tayside.

Best was subsequently arrested and charged in April 2018 and was convicted following a trial.

Detective Sergeant Michael Reilly from Fife Division’s Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit said:

“Stephen Best subjected the women to sustained periods of physical and sexual abuse and continued this over a number of years.

"The bravery shown by these women in coming forward to report these crimes has to be commended and this has been instrumental in securing his conviction.

"We welcome the sentencing today and his placement on the Sex Offenders register indefinitely means that he will be the subject of monitoring and supervision to restrict his ability to cause harm to anyone else.

"Domestic crime, in all its forms, remains one of Police Scotland’s top priorities. Hopefully the bravery shown by these women will give other individuals suffering from domestic abuse the strength to come forward and report crimes of this nature. Any disclosures made to us will be investigated thoroughly with the utmost professionalism and sensitivity to bring perpetrators to justice.”