Luke Ford — a Scottish man who served as a body double for Brad Pitt — was sentenced to 16 years in prison by the High Court in Edinburgh, following a series of charges of abuse against women, including rape, according to a statement from the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland.
Ford, 35, preyed on women he met on dating apps over the course of 12 years, subjecting his victims to physical and sexual abuse. Ford’s abuse included strangling, smashing a partner’s head against a car window, slapping another across the face and blackmailing women by threatening to share illicit photographs he had taken of them with their employers or families, prosecutors said, according to the BBC.
“Ford is a dangerous and manipulative sexual predator,” said Scottish Police Detective Inspector Steven Gray. “I hope that knowing he is now behind bars for his crimes helps them continue to move forward with their lives.”
Among Ford’s 19 convictions was one on a charge of “stealthing” — “defined as not using a protective condom without a partner’s knowledge or consent, which is rape,” according to the statement from prosecutors. According to the statement, Ford’s conviction for the crime is the first of its kind in Scotland.
One rape victim, who met Ford through Tinder in 2017, said that she had handed Ford a condom in bed and said he had to use protection so that she could avoid pregnancy — to which he responded, “good idea.” But he later told her he had not used the condom, according to The Times of London.
“I was shocked and upset,” said the victim. “I would not have had sex with him without a condom. I asked him to leave. I felt completely violated.”
After she confronted Ford, he called her “paranoid” and instructed her to take an emergency contraceptive pill.
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Ford, from Stirling, Scotland, was described to the court as an amateur actor, who played Pitt’s body double during shoots for the 2013 film World War Z in Glasgow.
Paramount Pictures
Brad Pitt in ‘World War Z’
“He genuinely thought he was going to be the next Brad Pitt,” one of Ford’s victims told STV News, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “I think there were multiple stunt doubles, but the way that he spun it, it looked like he was Brad Pitt’s one-and-only stunt double.”
Calling Ford a “master manipulator,” the victim added: “I would say it’s taken me a long time to get over what happened and say that life is good now.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
Read the original article on People
