The CalMac skipper, the incomer’s wife and the irate husband banned from an entire isle
Tryst scandalises God-fearing community... and ends in court
AN angry husband was officially banned from a Hebridean island – after confronting the ferry skipper who stole his wife.
Michael and Anna Ellis moved to the isolated isle of Raasay – population just 170 – hoping to start a new life together.
But within a year of their arrival, their idyllic dream has turned sour.
Not only has Mrs Ellis left her husband of 20 years for local ferryman Alastair Gillies but, in a remarkable move, her husband was forbidden from even setting foot on the island.
Details of the love triangle, which has been the subject of local gossip for some months, finally became public last week when Ellis found himself in court after attacking Mr Gillies. The court heard 51-year-old Ellis was not a violent man and had never been in trouble before but ‘saw red’ after discovering his wife’s new relationship.
He had bombarded her with abusive and threatening text messages and put a note on Mr Gillies’s car windscreen, warning him to stay away from his wife or ‘suffer the consequences’.
The irate husband then went to the skipper’s house to confront him and found Mrs Ellis already inside – sparking a chain of events that led to his court appearance and being banned from the deeply conservative island where public notices still warn the locals not to use the chil- dren’s playpark on a Sunday or they will be breaking the Sabbath.
Now Ellis has set up home on the neighbouring island of Skye, where he has been helping to build a new whisky distillery.
The couple, from the village of Acklington in Northumberland, moved to Raasay, which lies between Skye and the mainland, in August 2015. But within ten months, Mrs Ellis had struck up a relationship with father-of-four Mr Gillies, 53, who operates the Caledonian MacBrayne car and passenger ferry.
In court, Ellis’s defence lawyer said: ‘As is often the case in these scenarios, he seems to have been the last to know.’
The court heard the spurned husband had been spotted by Mr Gillies, from his position high up in the wheelhouse of the ferry, putting a note on the windscreen of his car parked at the pier.
Procurator fiscal Michelle Molloy said: ‘The note warned him to stay away from his wife, “or suffer the consequences”.’
An increasingly angry Ellis later went to the skipper’s house, where Mr Gillies was inside with Mrs Ellis, and shouted, swore, repeatedly banged on the door and tried to get into the house through a window.
Ms Molloy added: ‘He was threatening and aggressive and shouted through the door, “You are here. You are dead”.
‘Mrs Ellis made it clear by speaking through the door to her husband she did not want him in the house.
‘Mr Gillies opened a window near the door and told the husband to go away. But he tried to get into the house by climbing on to the windowsill.
‘He repeatedly punched Mr Gillies on the head. But the victim got him off the window sill and police were contacted. At 8pm he was arrested and placed in police custody.’
Shame-faced and standing in the dock at Portree Sheriff Court in Skye, Ellis admitted between June 1 and September 4 this year causing his wife fear or alarm, stalking her, threatening her new partner with violence and assaulting him in the main Raasay village of Inverarish.
His lawyer, Hamish Melrose, said it had been a condition of bail that his client did not return to the island until the case was heard, adding: ‘He is not a violent man and has never been in trouble with the courts before. But he just saw red on this occasion.
‘Mr Ellis moved from the family home into rented accommodation on Raasay. He was confused, lonely and depressed. He heard rumours his wife was in a new relationship.
‘He seemed to be the last to know. He tried to confront his wife’s new partner but was surprised that when he went to Mr Gillies’s house it was she who answered through the door.
‘He asked Mr Gillies, “How long have you been seeing my wife?’’ and the skipper replied, “Your ex-wife, you mean’’. Mr Ellis accepts the marriage is at an end.’
Sheriff Bill Taylor deferred sentence for six months telling Ellis: ‘If you behave yourself not much will happen to you when I come to sentence you.’
Yesterday Ellis, whose island ban has now been lifted, declined to comment on the case.
When approached by The Mail on Sunday, an emotional Mr Gillies, a divorcée whose family has lived on Raasay for generations and whose previous partner died suddenly of a heart attack last year, said that any comment he had to make would be ‘unprintable’.
Mrs Ellis, who works in the island shop, Raasay Community Stores, also refused to comment.
But yesterday, a local resident said: ‘Some of the 170 islanders who are strict members of the Free Presbyterian Church are a bit shocked and tut-tutting at the scandal.
‘It’s incredible something like this is happening on our quiet wee island. It’s straight out of EastEnders.
‘But if the guy was working away all week at the distillery in south
‘He seems to have been the last to know’ ‘I suppose it was ripe for a bit of hanky-panky’
Skye and only home at the weekends, I suppose the situation was ripe for a bit of hanky-panky or something of a more permanent nature. Mrs Ellis was maybe comforting Alastair after the tragic loss of his previous partner and they grew close.’
The islander added: ‘He’s a big, burly strong man and could possibly have made short work of Mr Ellis when he started punching him. However, he must have felt maybe sorry for the guy or morally on dodgy ground, so held his fire.’
A friend of Mr Gillies said: ‘It’s been distressing for everyone involved. Alastair’s concerned about the effect the scandal has had on such a tight-knit community and believes he’s being unfairly made out to look like a wife-stealer.
‘But he insists that the Ellises’ marriage had ended before he began a relationship with Mrs Ellis.’