A lottery multi-millionaire admitted threatening behaviour towards her domestic abuse campaigner ex-boyfriend who she claims conducted ‘a vendetta’ against her.
Gavin Innes, 46, claimed his ex-girlfriend Gillian Bayford – who scooped the £148million jackpot on EuroMillions in 2012 – pushed him during an argument.
He also boasted to friends that Kirkcaldy-born Bayford was his ‘pension fund’ and conducted an online campaign of ‘venom’, Dundee Sheriff Court was told.
Lottery multi-millionaire Gillian Bayford (pictured today) admitted threatening behaviour towards her domestic abuse campaigner ex-boyfriend who she claims conducted ‘a vendetta’ against her
Bayford, 47, had been due to face trial accused of repeatedly battering Mr Innes while they were dating.
But after a morning of discussions between her lawyers and prosecutors, the Crown accepted her plea of guilty to the lesser charge of behaving threateningly and abusively towards him, a domestically aggravated statutory breach of the peace.
She struggled with him, shouted at him, and pushed him on two occasions on October 1 and 5 in 2017.
The court heard that on the first occasion Mr Innes had received a message from Bayford asking her to come to her then home in the village of Auchterhouse, Angus.
Bayford (right), 47, struggled with Mr Innes, shouted at him, and pushed him on two occasions on October 1 and 5 in 2017
There, an argument developed after Bayford accused Mr Innes of delegating the care of her children – aged 11 and 13 – to one of her friends’ sons, who was intoxicated, when he was supposed to have been looking after them himself.
Gavin Burton, prosecuting, said: ‘Mr Innes sat on the stairs. He was asked to leave and the accused took hold of him and struggled with him.’
A friend of Bayford’s then drove Mr Innes to Mr Innes’s sister’s house.
On the second occasion, text messages were exchanged between them and they agreed to meet.
Bayford drove to Dundee and parked in the street near Mr Innes’s sister’s house.
Mr Innes got into her 4×4, where they became involved in argument about what had happened four days earlier.
Gavin Innes also boasted to friends that Kirkcaldy-born Bayford was his ‘pension fund’ and conducted an online campaign of ‘venom’, Dundee Sheriff Court was told
Mr Burton said: ‘She then lent over, opened the vehicle door, and pushed him. She didn’t push him out of the car. She simply pushed him.’
Mr Innes then left, taking Bayford’s phone and keys, and went into his sister’s.
Bayford followed him in where ‘other family members’ of Mr Innes ‘succeeded in de-escalating the situation’ by offering Bayford a cup of tea.
‘Ultimately that brings an end to that incident,’ Mr Burton said.
Murdo MacLeod QC, defending, said it was ‘scarcely possible to imagine two more trivial linked incidents’, and said Bayford had reacted after hearing Mr Innes had described her as ‘his pension fund’.
He said Bayford’s life had changed when she won the lottery in 2012.
He said: ‘It’s perhaps a bit of a cliche now, but it was a mixed blessing. It placed a great strain on her marriage and she split up from her husband in 2013.
‘She moved to Dundee and build up a substantial property portfolio, but she became very wary of people’s motives in developing friendships with her, suspicious of people’s intentions, and had great difficulties in forming new relationships.’
He said Mr Innes had got in touch with her about a school reunion – he had been in the year below her – and ‘romance blossomed’.
He said: ‘The relationship was characterised by the complainer’s volatile behaviour towards her.
‘He was on benefits and could scarcely afford heating and food and his family were struggling.
‘She was extremely generous towards him.
‘The context of the incidents is critical.
‘She had heard, second hand, that he had said prior to actually meeting her that she was going to be his ‘pension fund’. So essentially they were in the dying embers of their relationship.
‘It’s clear that a vendetta is being pursued against her.
‘False allegations have been repeatedly made to the golf club where she’s a member, and more disturbingly to Angus Social Work department and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, resulting in parallel investigations that were distressing and completely unfounded.
Mr Innes also boasted to friends that Kirkcaldy-born Bayford (pictured) was his ‘pension fund’ and conducted an online campaign of ‘venom’, Dundee Sheriff Court was told
‘Her name has then been plastered all over social media with false allegations being made both anonymously and by someone who appears to have taken a particular dislike to her and who it would have been alleged in the trial was actually the complainer himself.
‘An attempt would have been made to prove that.
‘The slew of venom would have been a focal part of this trial.
‘It’s been a torrid time for her. This vendetta shows little sign of letting up.
‘The flow of abuse has also been directed at her parents, her friends and her businesses.’
Mr MacLeod said Bayford was devoted to charitable causes, including fundraising for the Childrens’ Hospice in Kinross, the Oor Wullie Bucket trail, and other groups.
He said: ‘She bitterly regrets having a relationship with this man, and of course her conduct on these two occasions for which she has asked me to say she is sorry.
‘She sat in a cell before being interviewed by the police. It’s been an extremely sobering experience.
‘She has been through hell on earth.’
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC rejected Mr MacLeod’s submission that the case could be dealt with by an absolute discharge, but admonished Bayford.
She told Bayford: ‘This is no longer an assault, but nonetheless it’s breach of the peace involving you ex-partner.
Bayford shared a record-breaking EuroMillions win of over £148 million with her former husband Adrian in August 2012 (pictured)
‘I accept it’s at the lower end of the scale.
‘You clearly do a lot of important work in the community, and I take that into account, and that you have been under a lot of stress and strain following this.
‘I need to mark the fact that it is an offence to do this, and to push somebody, but given all that’s been said in your favour I’m not going to impose any penalty on you – I am going to admonish you.’
Leaving court with friends, Bayford declined to comment to reporters.
Also outside court, Mr Innes denied being behind any vendetta against Bayford.
He said: ‘There’s been anger on my part, but no vendetta. It’s sad she wasn’t punished.’
He also denied saying he regarded her as ‘his pension fund’.
He said: ‘Those aren’t my words. I’m far too immature to use words like that.
‘I joked about things plenty of times with Gillian about the money.’
Bayford, a former hospital cleaner, shared a record-breaking EuroMillions win of over £148 million with her former husband Adrian in August 2012, before separating 15 months later after nine years of marriage.