Scots podcaster James English has been convicted of domestic abuse against his former partner.
The 43-year-old repeatedly attacked the 30-year-old woman at his flat in Glasgow’s Argyle Street and elsewhere between July 2022 and November 2023.
He grabbed his victim by the neck and pinned her against a door while she was pregnant.
English also pressed his thumbs into her eyebrows.
In an earlier incident, he kicked the model off a bed after she refused to give him a cuddle.
Other violent incidents included pulling the woman by the hair which caused her to lose her balance and, on another occasion, slapped her on the face causing redness.
English, now of Larkhall, Lanarkshire, shot to fame after he starred in reality TV show Glow.
He is also the host of the Anything Goes podcast which has more than 800,000 subscribers on YouTube and has interviewed the likes of ex-footballer Paul Gascoigne for the show.
His attendance at Glasgow Sheriff Court for the verdict on Tuesday was excused by Sheriff David Hall who was told last week that he was ‘out of the country’.
English was found guilty after a 12-day trial of engaging in a course of behaviour which was abusive to a partner or ex-partner.
James English was found guilty of domestic abuse
The single charge included a total of 19 allegations and Sheriff Hall considered six of them to be proven. One allegation had been withdrawn mid-trial by the Crown.
The court heard that the pair got together having initially chatted on social media in July 2022 and met in person the following month.
Evidence was heard by the woman remotely from a courtroom in her native Cardiff.
She told the court that English was ‘nice at first’ and that the relationship moved ‘fast.’
The first act of violence came when they were lying together in bed in the early hours of the morning.
She stated: ‘He said that he wanted a cuddle…I just said that I was feeling a lot of sick, just give me a minute.’
Prosecutor Danielle Docherty asked if English was happy and she replied: ‘No.’
The woman said: ‘He kicked me off the bed to the side of my hip on the right side of my body as I was on the left side of the bed.’
When asked how forceful the kick was, the woman replied: ‘Yes, it was quite forceful because I hit the wardrobe when I came off the bed.’
The woman stated that she felt ‘shocked’ and wanted to leave.
She claimed English joined her five minutes later in the living room, grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her against the wall.
When asked what level of force was used, she replied: ‘Enough for me to be lifted from my feet.’
The woman recalled being ‘frightened’ at the time and that English had seemed ‘angry’.
But the relationship continued and she discovered that she was pregnant.
In a later incident, English ‘took a firm hold’ of her while they were in the property together.
Miss Docherty told the court in her closing submissions: ‘He seized her by the neck, compressed it and pinned her against a door.
‘This first episode lasted 10 seconds. The woman told the court that she was petrified, just panicking and he was aggressive.’
She continued: ‘He held her with a tight grip and she confirmed that she remained conscious throughout.’
In another incident, English pulled the woman by the hair which caused her to lose her balance.
His final act of violence was ‘striking the woman’s face with an open hand’.
The trial was also told that English sent threatening and abusive messages to her.
Examples read out in court included: ‘You absolute waste. Get a job and support your family.’
He also called her derogatory names and said: ‘You are lucky I never f****** battered you.’
Calum Weir, defending, told the court in his closing remarks that the Crown’s case ‘fell short’ of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
He said there was no evidence ‘in terms of pictures’ saying the woman was ‘savvy with an online presence’.
Mr Weir also said she had been ‘vague’ with dates with ‘no specific time’ given for each allegation’ and added screenshots, pictures and recordings given to the court had been ‘cropped and the context was unclear… and perhaps spliced’.
It was revealed that English has previous convictions for mainly road traffic matters.
When convicting him, Sheriff Hall told the court: ‘I considered the victim to be credible and reliable.
‘I am satisfied that it is appropriate to convict of parts of the charge. There was a lot of evidence that this relationship was on-off between them.
‘It was to me a relationship that was destined to fail and it somewhat dragged on.’
Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month and English’s bail was continued meantime.
