// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
'I was weeks from marrying a violent serial rapist - my loved ones saved my life'
Christopher Malcolm, right, physically and psychologically abused his former fiancée - who has told her story to the BBC anonymously
This article contains details, including depictions of violence, which some readers may find distressing.
Without the interventions of her family and friends, Amy says she would have married the man who had physically and psychologically abused her for much of their relationship.
Had the wedding gone ahead, she fears he would have eventually killed her.
Christopher Malcolm, a serial rapist who was recently jailed for his crimes, inflicted life-changing injuries on his former fiancée - on one occasion she said he left her face "black and blue" just before she visited her terminally ill father for Father's Day.
Amy, not her real name, told the BBC that staying in the relationship was often a means to calm the violence and survive. So long as Malcolm was free, she said she did not feel safe enough to report him to police.
Her loved ones, meanwhile, grew increasingly concerned. On several occasions they reported their concerns for Amy's welfare to Police Scotland's disclosure scheme for domestic abuse, external (known as Clare's Law in England and Wales), supplying evidence including text messages and photos of her injuries.
This ultimately helped officers build a strong enough case to arrest Malcolm, who was taken into custody in September 2024. Shortly afterwards, Amy gave a full report of the rapes, assaults and abuse she had been subjected to.
She had been due to marry Malcolm four weeks later.
Amy was due to marry Christopher Malcolm, but he was arrested four weeks before the ceremony