Ex-soldier quizzed over Galloway death threats
Politician f lees Scotland and blames ‘Nationalist nastiness’
A FORMER soldier is being investigated by police after allegedly making threats about shooting ex-MP George Galloway.
Mr Galloway, who is standing as a candidate in May’s Holyrood election, was forced to flee his home near Dumfries with his wife and three children on Friday after the menacing posts appeared on social media.
Last night, the former Labour and Respect MP said he believed there was a ‘credible concern that my family could be harmed’.
It is understood the former soldier, whose Twitter account states that he supports independence, has also threatened Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross.
Blaming ‘Nationalist extremists’ for the threats, Mr Galloway said: ‘Alarmingly, the messages are from an ex-soldier, who has allegedly been for some time fantasising about shooting me through the head.
‘I also got hate messages from someone who knew the address of the property I bought three months ago, so it’s quite a disturbing turn of events. I thought under the circumstances it would be a wise thing to leave home with my wife and children for a few days.’ Dundee-born Mr Galloway returned to Scotland from London last year with Dutch wife Putri Gayatri and their three children – Toren, six, Órla, three, and sixmonth-old Òban.
The messages to the veteran politician, who will stand in South Scotland, appeared on Thursday as he launched the Holyrood campaign of his anti-independence Alliance 4 Unity party.
The threats said the 66-year-old ‘shud (sic) have been shot years ago, mite (sic) happen yet tho’.
A subsequent tweet from the same account added: ‘This man only fit for a bullet thru the brain.’
A day earlier, after a televised debate in which Mr Ross took part, the same account posted that the Moray MP should ‘shut the f*** up, before someone puts a bullet thru your brain’.
Likening the threat to that of Labour MP Jo Cox, killed in her Yorkshire constituency in 2016 by Ayrshire-born extremist Thomas Mair, Mr Galloway said: ‘I’m always conscious of what happened to her. It doesn’t need to be a highpowered assassin, it only needs to be someone who can get close enough with a blade or a gun.
‘Toren and Órla are a bit spooked because they heard all the phone conversations between me and the police. Toren is old enough that when you spell out S-H-O-T, instead of saying the word “shot”, he’s able to work out what that means.’
He warned it was ‘typical’ of the rising ‘Nationalist nastiness’, adding: ‘Although shocked, I’m not at all surprised.
‘The atmosphere is palpably rancid and so much is turning on this election because if the SNP lose, that’s it, there will never be another independence referendum.
‘They are living through an internal disaster at the moment, including the threat to Nicola Sturgeon.’
Yesterday, Police Scotland confirmed it had received a complaint from Mr Galloway about ‘an offensive communication’.
A force spokesman added that ‘inquiries are ongoing’.
‘Been fantasising about shooting me in the head’