Description
A serial sex offender jailed for life for a savage attack on a university lecturer is back behind bars after changing his name to deceive women into relationships.
Brian Travers received a life sentence and indefinite placement on the sex offenders register for the 2002 assault on the woman in her Edinburgh home. Register conditions required him to notify authorities of name or address changes and bank account details.
Released in 2022, Travers violated these by using the alias "David Quinn" to form romantic relationships with two unsuspecting women. One discovered his true identity via a letter addressed to Brian Travers in his flat; after Googling, she learned of his crimes. Having allowed him time with her young daughter and use of her phone during their six-month relationship, she reported him to police.
Travers, now 52, and accomplice Paul Gargaro were convicted for forcing entry into the lecturer's home, subjecting her to indecent assault, forcing her to reveal her bank PIN, and stealing credit cards, cash, jewelry, and a phone. Travers was identified by DNA after licking her ear while she was bound, blindfolded, and threatened with rape.
Judge Lord Phillip sentenced them to life, calling Travers "a cruel and calculating criminal" and "a danger to women" at the High Court in Edinburgh in July 2002.
Travers also served seven years for punching and undressing a 20-year-old American student in an Edinburgh park in 1997. Two days earlier, he robbed a mother walking with her baby near the Water of Leith, stealing her handbag with bank cards and money.
On January 22 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Travers pleaded guilty to failing to notify authorities of his name change between November 1, 2022, and August 10, 2024, and possessing two unreported bank cards and accounts from June 12, 2022, to August 10, 2024.
Fiscal depute Morgan Beattie noted Travers was on the register for life due to his 1997 and 2002 indecent assaults, and used "David Quinn" or "Quinny" in the relationships post-release.
Defense lawyer Nicola Haston said he failed to inform police due to "laziness" and was recalled on license.
Sheriff Watson stated: "These charges cover a period of 21 months where you used an alias and two years where you used bank accounts you did not register. I was told it was laziness, but it was not lazy to change your name and it was not lazy not to report that. No doubt distress was caused to those who discovered you had conducted yourself under a false name and were unaware of your offending."
Travers received an 18-month sentence, backdated to November 18 of the previous year.
In July 2016, Travers escaped Castle Huntly jail near Dundee during home leave, after bragging about meeting sex workers. Recalled and facing downgraded privileges, he absconded for four days before being found drunk in an Edinburgh pub. He broke his arm during arrest and was sentenced to 16 more months at Perth Sheriff Court in September 2016 for the escape.