A bestselling author feared that she would be a victim of “revenge porn” after her former partner threatened to publish naked photographs of her pregnant, a court was told yesterday.
Janice Galloway, 58, whose works include The Trick is to Keep Breathing, Foreign Parts and Blood, said that the concert pianist Graeme McNaught had contacted her to say that he had kept intimate pictures of her.
Mr McNaught, of Mount Vernon, Glasgow, is on trial at Hamilton sheriff court and faces a total of ten charges of placing Ms Galloway in a state of fear and alarm. He has denied all the claims against him.
Ms Galloway, of Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, said that Mr McNaught, 54, emailed her in January 2012 and told her that he planned to show the nude photographs at an art exhibition.
The couple were in a relationship for about six years before splitting in 1996 and the images were taken when Ms Galloway was pregnant with their son James, now 22. In emails that were shown to the court, Mr McNaught wrote: “I have photos of you, a couple of naked pregnant shots, which I am happy to copy and hand back — it could be your page 3 moment. There is, if not money, artistic capital in plenty to be had from seeing them beautifully framed and hung.”
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Under questioning from the depute fiscal, Imran Bashir, Ms Galloway said: “This was him reminding me he had lots of personal memorabilia and photos of me when I was pregnant.
“Have you heard of ‘revenge porn’ where ex-boyfriends post pictures of women who they have had relationships with on the internet? It felt like an early version of that. It was hellish.”
Giving evidence from behind protective screens, Ms Galloway said that she had received “bizarre” letters and parcels with drawings and paintings from Mr McNaught since they broke up.
She said that she had called police in January 2012 after finding a suspicious package in her kitchen.
She broke down in tears as she told the court about her fears that Mr McNaught was going to destroy her career. She claimed that he had launched a campaign to damage her reputation and harm sales of her books.
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The trial had earlier been told of claims that Mr McNaught turned up uninvited at Ms Galloway’s home and said that he was to be crowned the king of Scotland at a beachfront ceremony.
The trial continues.