A councillor has resigned from Highland Council amid public backlash over the row around the taxi licence of a convicted rapist.
Several councillors have already resigned from the local authority's licensing committee after voting in favour of the rapist taxi driver keeping his operating licence.
David Brown, of Croy, near Inverness, was convicted earlier this year of raping an 18-year-old woman in a lay-by near a farm in the Highlands in December 2023.
Councillors Duncan Macpherson, Sean Kennedy and John Grafton have already announced their departure from the committee alongside Councillor Willie Mackay.
However, Mackay has now reportedly confirmed that he will be resigning from Highland Council entirely.
Read More:
The Press and Journal reports that Mackay has confirmed to his colleagues he is resigning as a councillor.
Former police officer Mackay is an independent councillor representing the Wick and East Caithness ward on Highland Council.
Brown, 50, from Croy near Inverness, was convicted in May 2026 of raping an 18‑year‑old passenger whom he assaulted and then abandoned in freezing conditions.
His taxi driver’s licence had already been suspended by Highland Council in January 2024, but his separate taxi operator’s licence (for the vehicle/business, not for driving) went back to the council’s licensing committee for review after the conviction.
Meeting in private, the licensing committee decided not to take action against his operator’s licence after a relative asked that it remain in his name, despite objections from Police Scotland.
Highland Council is under intense fire from the public and bodies like Rape Crisis Scotland after its licensing committee decided not to strip Brown of his taxi operator’s licence, prompting public outrage, protests and an internal review of the decision.
Brown is currently in prison serving a sentence of six years and nine months, yet he has been allowed to retain the licence that lets him run a taxi business, even though he cannot personally drive and the licence is not transferable to someone else.
