Pianist claims ‘victim’ wanted a relationship
Former partner says author could not let him go
A CONCERT pianist who faces claims he harassed a best-selling author for more than 16 years told police she would not accept their relationship had ended, a court has heard.
Janice Galloway’s former partner Graeme McNaught, 54, said the author of The Trick is to Keep Breathing, Foreign Parts and Blood was unable to “let him go”.
Mr McNaught, who has pleaded not guilty to eight charges of placing Miss Galloway in a state of fear and alarm at Hamilton Sheriff Court, said she wanted to set up secret meetings with him after she married an opera singer.
Mr McNaught and Galloway met in 1990 and had a six year on-off relationship during which they had a son, now 22. Miss Galloway went on to marry Jonathan May and now lives with him in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire.
Jurors heard a taped police interview Mr McNaught gave in February 2012. In it, he said he had not wanted a sexual relationship after their split but had instead been keen to remain friends.
He said: “We were great friends, we have the same sense of humour and we are both creative.
“I don’t think she can let me go. I let her go years ago. I think it was kind of all or nothing with me to her and I didn’t want that other bit.
“I never wanted a relationship with Janice Galloway. We met in the Arches in Glasgow one night and she told me how pleased she was to see me.
“She took me into a quiet corner and said: ‘We should go for a wee coffee in the town but I’m not going to tell Jonathan because he
On a personal level I wish her no harm but she has written terrible things. The allegation this is a criminal act is ludicrous
would just worry.’ She didn’t want to tell me about Jonathan at first, she didn’t want me to think she had committed to someone else.”
In the recording Mr McNaught also admitted he had walked into Miss Galloway’s home uninvited and left a package in her kitchen in January 2012.
He said he wanted to leave her a letter saying he was going to sue her over claims she had made about his mental state in a book and TV interview.
He added: “I made the package for Janice in Amsterdam and I delivered it. I knocked the back door: I could see there was a light on and I did something I very rarely do, I tried the handle.
“The door was open so I walked in and left the package there. There was a letter in it to Janice intimating that I was taking her to court for defamation of character.
“The publication of her last book and seeing her appear on national television was the last straw. In an interview on STV she said that I am mentally ill and I am refusing to take medication.
“On a personal level I wish her no harm but she has written some terrible things. The allegation that this is a criminal act is utterly ludicrous.
“I have had dinner in that kitchen, it is my son’s house. She is an incredibly strong woman, she wouldn’t be put into fear or intimidation by having a parcel delivered.”
The number of charges Mr McNaught faces was reduced by eight yesterday after two were dropped.
The trial before Sheriff Ray Small continues.
PRIMAL SCREAM: Guitarist Robert ‘Throb’ Young, left, with bandmate and friend Bobby Gillespie.