Model Elaine’s ex calls her MI5 spy
Lover accused of assault claims she was agent
A Vogue model from Stirling was recruited by MI5 to find out secrets about her boyfriend’s father’s company, a court was told this week.
Elaine Ford was said to have been enlisted by the security services and told to target lover Nathan Gray, whose father was involved with aircraft manufacturer Airbus.
He is accused of abducting Ms Ford, assaulting her and conducting a stalking campaign in the weeks after she broke up with him in 2013.
But he claims that she drugged him on the night he is accused of attacking her and holding her captive in her Edinburgh student flat.
Ms Ford, 28, who has featured in Vogue and several Sunday supplements, denied being a spook when giving evidence against Gray at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Ms Ford, who attended Glasgow School of Art, was Arts Scotland’s art ambassador for Stirling between 2009 and 2012 and is a former member of Gymnastics Youth Stirling.
She is in the final year of a biology course at Edinburgh University.
Previously she told the court Gray had dragged her across her bedroom floor and she was forced to shut herself inside a bathroom to escape her enraged boyfriend after she told him she did not want to continue the relationship.
But the trial took an unexpected twist on Monday when defending QC Iain Smith told the blonde underwear model that Gray believed she had been enlisted by MI5 and was spying on him to get to his father.
Mr Smith said: “Did you know what job Mr Gray’s father worked in? Did you know Mr Gray believes his father’s work had attracted the attention of the security services?
“Mr Gray believes the reason your relationship started and ended is connected to you being involved in the security services or some other investigatory body, perhaps the police.”
After being asked to repeat the claims by a stunned Ms Ford, Mr Smith added: “Mr Gray believes the reason your relationship started was because you were involved in MI5, the police or something like that.
Mr Smith went on: “You encouraged him and discouraged him so he would have a breakdown.
“He also believes on November 27, 2013, during the incident you call abduction you may have drugged him.”
Mr Smith added: “Have you ever worked for MI5, MI6 or the police?”
Ms Ford denied any involvement in the security services and denied she had drugged Gray that evening.
Previously the court heard the couple had enjoyed phone sex when the relationship was in full flow. Ms Ford denied the pair continued the practise after she had split from 27-year-old Gray.
She also denied suggestions from Mr Smith that a male friend had sent her a picture of his genitals, resulting in Gray, from Weymouth, Dorset, becoming enraged on the night she claims he attacked her.
During her evidence the model, who is signed to Scots agency Superior Model Management, told the jury she believed Gray had compromising pictures of her and had threatened to upload them to social media sites.
The couple met when both were studying at Edinburgh University in 2013.
Gray denies abducting Ms Ford by holding her against her will and assaulting her on November 27, 2013.
He also denies stealing her belongings including a computer, house keys and a handbag between November 27 and December 22, 2013.
Gray is also pleading not guilty to causing Ms Ford fear and alarm by repeatedly contacting her, repeatedly contacting her friends and refusing to leave her home address between November 2013 and March 2014.
The trial in front of Sheriff Alastair Noble continues.
Have you ever worked for MI5, MI6 or the police?”