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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Connor Gordon

Scottish actor gives evidence in Glasgow assault trial after hearing cry for help

BABY Reindeer Richard Gadd alerted police to help a woman who feared she was going to be killed, a court heard.

Gadd recalled getting help on hearing an apparently distressed female in the flat above his own on November 1, 2025,

The 37-year-old Golden Globe winner – creator of the hit Netflix series – was in the witness box at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

He was testifying in the trial of 22-year-old Lucas Bains, who denies the aggravated assault of the woman at a flat in the city's Finneston,

Court papers state Bains, of Maryhill, Glasgow, repeatedly pushed her on the body.

He is then alleged to have seized her shoulders, shoved her on a balcony, trapping her leg on a door frame amid claims she was locked outside the propery.

The woman is said to have been injured as a result.

Scots actor and comedian Gadd told procurator fiscal Daniel Lynch the alleged incident occurred while he had a rare night off from filming.

He said he initially heard what he thought was a gathering in the flat upstairs around 10pm.

But, Gadd claimed there was later arguing and shouting. He said: "It stopped feeling like a party."

He poked his head out onto his balcony, returned inside, but the noise continued.

Richard Gadd
Richard Gadd

Gadd said he went back out for a second time and described seeing "a flurry of arms".

A woman was said to be in distress and was shouting: "Help me, help me - he is going to kill me".

The court heard Gadd was concerned enough to call the police.

The actor said he eventually passed the woman a dressing gown as she appeared cold.

Quizzed later by Bain's lawyer Patrick Campbell, Gadd accepted the first time he looked out his veranda that there was "nothing to see".

He added: "I was trying to figure out what was going on."

Gadd said "there was a bit of quiet, then a rise again". He told the trial he eventually heard the door of the balcony above being closed and spotted the woman outside.

The star claimed she remained on the balcony until police came.

Campbell said: "You gave an estimate of around 20 minutes?"

Gadd replied: "Again, with the adrenaline it's hard to say, possibly a period of 20 to 30 minutes."

Another witness told the court how he saw a man - identified as Bains - leaving the block "quite agitated, shouting at the building".

Thomas Russell, 32, alleged Bains remarked: "F***ing b****."

The financial crime analyst claimed he saw the woman on the balcony "quite distressed, crying out."

He said: "It looked like she was requesting help."

Russell stated Bains had a bag with him with liquid dripping out of it before he went into a car.

This witness alleged he drove over flowerbeds on the pavement before he left the area.

Lynch asked Russell what happened to the woman on the balcony and he replied: "Shouting and requesting help, saying that she was stuck."

Bains earlier pleaded guilty to failing to give the identity of a driver involved in an incident to police as well as failing to provide specimens of breath for a test.

The summary trial, before Sheriff Helen McGinty and no jury, continues later this month.

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