Rita Bruce is the former classmate of Adnan Ahmed who was instrumental in bringing his crimes to light.

It was while they were both studying for a BA degree in Learning Difficulties that Rita, 50, from Maryhill, first got to know Ahmed whilst her and other classmates shared car journeys to Fife College.

“One day Ahmed was not in class, and one of the other girls showed me some pictures that she had seen on his Instagram. I had a real intuitive feeling, and I just thought that they looked dodgy. I thought there was something going on.

“I went home that night and looked for his Facebook. I remembered asking him previously if he had a Facebook account, and he had told me that he didn’t really use social media but he used YouTube to watch videos.

“I put his name into YouTube and a channel came up called ‘DWLF’ – D**k Will Last Forever. I was horrified as I sat looking through his videos. For two years I studied and travelled with him, got to know his life.

“I was an absolute wreck, and I thought, how can I go back into a car with him?”

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Ahmed was a ‘pick-up artist’, part of a subculture of men who ‘taught’ others how to ‘approach’ women. Many of Ahmed’s videos on his YouTube channel showed him approaching women in and around Glasgow, and filming their conversations without the girls’ consent.

“Pick-up artists have their own language” said Rita. “I started doubting myself because I couldn’t understand what they were saying.

“I found a ‘dictionary’ online for the language of pick-up artists, and one of the terms was ‘LRM’ which means ‘Last Minute Resistance’ and how to overcome it.

“I phoned a friend and she confirmed to me that he was a ‘pick up artist’ and that this is what they do.

“I then phoned the police.”

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Rita was among one of the first people to report Ahmed to Police Scotland, but she says that she didn’t feel they took her complaint seriously.

“They weren’t very helpful – they didn’t see that there was a crime. One of the officers was dismissive of the fact that I was describing it as a hate crime. I said that his videos went against our protected characteristics. I understood that the law was grey around the area, but I just knew that there was something going on.”

Rita said when she first began to travel with Ahmed he seemed charming, quiet, and intelligent.

She added: “You would never have guessed in a million years that he was doing all this. That’s what floored me.

“I think now that all of us can, in retrospect, look back and think of conversations with Ahmed that suggest something was off. But frankly, I would never have known in a million years he had this life going on in the background, and I don’t think anyone would.”

“I was disappointed initially that the charges were just harassment and assault – to me, the sexual context is the most important thing. I think if there are more victims of his, they should come forward too – people are listening.

“Ultimately, though, my main concern was to get him off the streets and expose him for what it was. I’m glad that we’ve done that.”

Detective Superintendent Donna Duffy said: "Officers responded to a report received on 22 October 2018 in relation to videos posted online.

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"Enquiries were carried out, no criminality was established at that time and advice was given.

"Following a number of complaints subsequently received, an investigation was carried out which resulted in Adnan Ahmed being arrested and charged with five offences. He has since been convicted and sentenced to two years in prison and placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

"We would encourage anyone who has been subjected to this type of behaviour to report it to police via 101 or in an emergency 999."