Actor Iain Robertson allegedly became violent only after first subjecting a woman to a sustained pattern of emotional control and manipulation, the High Court in Glasgow has heard. The former River City star, 45, denies eight charges involving four women over a 16-year period from 2004 to 2020, including rape, assault and threatening or abusive behaviour.
Giving evidence by video-link on Tuesday, a 40-year-old woman who met Robertson in 2012 or 2013 described how his initial charm gave way to something far darker. She had just finished drama school when they began seeing each other. “His behaviour became quite controlling, emotionally controlling, manipulative,” she told the court. “Over time that would escalate and there would be threats of physical violence and then eventually physical violence.”
Alleged pattern of control and isolation
The woman alleged that Robertson sought to isolate her from those closest to her, in particular her mother and friends. She said he would deliberately “pick an argument” whenever she was due to meet them, a tactic designed to “wedge (her) apart” from her support network.
She described him as a “violent alcoholic” who drank heavily and was “in and out” of Alcoholics Anonymous throughout their relationship. When he was drunk, she said, he became “aggressive, disrespectful” and would speak to her in a tone she likened to “venom”, calling her “a bitch” and being “derogatory”. The verbal abuse left her feeling “awful”.
Prosecutors allege this pattern of controlling behaviour, which the woman said began soon after they met, mirrored the experiences of other women. In total, the charges span four complainants. One woman alleges Robertson raped her “on various occasions” between 2018 and 2019 after they had worked together on River City; she described him as convinced she was “in denial” about her feelings, leading to her boundaries being ignored. Another accuser claims he engaged in a course of “controlling” and “psychologically manipulative” conduct, including kicking household objects, grabbing her by the neck, sending unwanted gifts and trying to intimidate her from contacting police. Further charges involve alleged assault, threatening behaviour, pouring wine over a woman and making sexual remarks.
Violent incidents
The court heard that the first accuser’s fear of physical harm crystallised during a holiday in Moray, north-east Scotland, in 2013. Robertson, she said, had been drinking heavily throughout the trip. While driving to a tourist spot, an argument erupted over directions. “He just flew off the handle and flung the car around,” she testified. She said she felt “trapped” in the vehicle and “really scared”, describing it as a moment when she realised she was “in a dangerous situation with this person, both in the car… but also in a wider sense in the relationship”.
On another occasion, the night before she was due to travel to London for a photoshoot, an argument turned “threatening” and “aggressive”. She told the court she was “cowering because I thought he was going to hit me”. Robertson, she alleged, then said: “If you think I am going to hit you then I will hit you,” and lunged at her. She fell onto the bed with her hands and arms over her head. He left the room, but she was so afraid she did not know how to escape his flat and pretended to be asleep.
In December 2014, during another argument, she said Robertson dragged her by her hair from the bedroom into the hall. “I was trying to make it stop, I was trying to grab on to anything to make it stop,” she recounted. Once he let go, she stood up and told him: “We are finished, it’s over.”
Relationship ends, obsessive contact follows
The woman said she ended the relationship in early 2015 after Robertson reacted badly to her going out with new colleagues. In the aftermath, she alleged, he sent an “obsessive amount” of phone calls and texts, and later emails. The court was shown some of these emails, in which Robertson apologised to her.
Under cross-examination from Robertson’s defence lawyer, Gary Allan KC, the woman accepted that none of the emails specified what he was apologising for. Allan argued this did not support her version of events. She maintained, however, that the “heightened” nature of the apologies matched the “heightened” incidents for which he was apologising.
Robertson, who played Stevie O’Hara in River City from 2017 to 2023 and won a BAFTA in 1996 for his role in the film Small Faces, has lodged a special defence of consent in relation to one of the charges. His lawyer has also entered a joint minute of agreed evidence between the parties. Robertson remains on bail as the trial, before Lady Drummond, continues.
