An alleged sex crime victim who has spent six years fighting for justice has called for an overhaul of Scotland's police complaints system.

Motivational coach David Yeoman, 61, says making a complaint is like "taking water in a wheelbarrow up Ben Lomond" and wants an end to the practice of officers investigating themselves.

His partner Bev Johnson, 55, died last year, just hours after she wrote a report for MSPs about how their police complaint had consumed five years of their lives.

And on Tuesday STV News told how Alex Hutcheson, 92, died suddenly while also dealing with a long-running Police Scotland dispute.

Dame Elish Angiolini QC - Scotland's former top prosecutor - is conducting a Scottish Government review into how police complaints should be handled.

Last week she took evidence from some complainants, including ex-army officer Bill Johnstone, who is fighting to establish how police assigned him a false criminal record.

Mr Yeoman, who has worked with blue chip companies and sports teams including Inverness Caledonian Thistle, said that the former lord advocate had been given a "poisoned chalice" but hopes she changes the system.

David, who has a form of autism and was helped in the complaints process by Bev, said: "There's a moral responsibility, I felt, this has to be exposed and hopefully the law will change. I'm only one of many other people. I just felt this situation became bigger than what I went through.

"I've got great respect for the rank-and-file police officers and other police further up who do a very good job, but the system is greater than the individual and the system will always win.

"With all the evidence that I have from all the different areas, it's a total waste of taxpayers' money."

The saga began in 2013 when David, of Aberfoyle, Stirling, made an allegation of historic sexual assault, but there were no arrests or prosecutions. He complained that officers failed to investigate properly, but a detective chief inspector rejected his complaint.

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) then upheld two of his complaints, including the failure to investigate, and said the DCI's initial response was "deficient" and lacked "clear reasoning".

But Mr Yeoman believes the process is slow, complex and stacked in favour of police. Having suffered a breakdown, he has been diagnosed with numerous conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

For years, Bev helped as he tried to get answers. He added: "If she's looking down, you know Bev, on behalf of everything you did, I will not rest until something changes.

"The process is all about wearing down people. It's pass the parcel and about no-one wanting to take accountability and responsibility for anything. Their first behaviour is protecting themselves and it doesn't matter what the victim has gone through."

Dame Elish previously said that she wants to "hear about people's real-life experience of their dealings with Police Scotland, as well as gathering evidence from police officers and interested organisations".

Police Scotland did not comment but following yesterday's report about Alex Hutcheson, they said: "How complaints about the police are handled is critical in maintaining public confidence in policing and we are committed to engaging with our communities and partners to continuously improve our response.

"Dame Elish Angiolini is undertaking an independent review of police complaint handling and we will continue to support her important work in this area."