Former River City actor Iain Robertson found guilty of rape

Former River City actor Iain Robertson has been convicted of raping a woman and assaulting two others.

The 45-year-old, who played Stevie O'Hara in the BBC soap, has been found guilty of five offences, including domestic abuse, against the women between 2004 and 2019.

During his trial at the High Court in Glasgow, Robertson was referred to by witnesses as "violent" and "controlling".

Judge Lady Drummond deferred sentencing until 23 July for background reports.

Robertson had been on bail, but showed no emotion as he was remanded in custody. He was also put on the sex offenders list.

The rape victim's pre-recorded testimony was played during the trial.

Jurors concluded Robertson raped her on a single occasion between 2018 and 2019 as well as carrying out a separate sex assault on her.

The pair had got to know each other from working together on River City.

The woman said she did not want anything sexual to happen, but believed Robertson, of Carbeth, Stirlingshire, did.

The relationship became intimate, but the woman recalled later insisting to Robertson she wanted their relationship to go back to being more platonic.

Asked by prosecutor John Keenan KC how Robertson reacted, she said he "agreed".

But the witness added: "It was a long back and forth. Iain was convinced I was in denial about having feelings for him and in denial about what I wanted.

"I do not think he believed me."

The woman stated she felt her "boundaries were being ignored".

She was at his then home in Glasgow's Tradeston at the time and planned to sleep on the sofa, but Robertson allegedly told her she could join him in bed as "nothing would happen".

However, the witness told Keenan that the actor instead "had sex" with her.

"I was lying down, I was very limp and he went on top of me," she said.

She did not say anything to Robertson at the time, but said she did not participate in what happened and she did not want it to happen.

During another incident in Glasgow, the witness claimed Robertson had been upset about the "sexual aspect ending" and kicked over a table, breaking a vase.

The court heard Robertson later went into the woman's bed. She also got in to go to sleep.

She told how the actor went on to allegedly pull her on top of him before again having sex with her.

The woman stated she not want this to happen and was left feeling "very numb".

She also described an earlier incident when Robertson carried out a sex act on her and she "just waited for it to be over".

Robertson had lodged a special defence that anything with this woman was consensual.

But as well as rape, he was found guilty of engaging in a course of abusive behaviour with the victim.

Prosecutors took the step of leading evidence of another sexual incident involving a second woman to corroborate the rape charge.

Robertson was said to have forced himself on the woman during a get together with others in the Lake District in September 2007.

Jurors did not have to deliver a verdict on this accusation.

But he was convicted of assaulting the woman – which included pouring wine over her and her university course work.

Robertson was violent with a third female, who was a fellow actor at the time.

The witness recalled an argument in 2014 where Robertson "lunged" at her.

She said she was "cowering" with her hands and arms over her head, adding: "I thought he was going to hit me."

The woman described how Robertson had hounded her with an "obsessive" amount of calls and voicemails, and sent her Graze snack boxes to theatres where she was performing.

Robertson was convicted of one assault charge involving this woman and cleared of another.

He was further guilty of threatening and abusive behaviour towards her.

Robertson was finally found not guilty of engaging in abusive behaviour with a fourth woman.

During closing speeches, Keenan said the jury had heard "strong and overwhelming" accounts from the women about their experiences with the actor.

He said there was a "common theme" of Robertson treating the women in a "controlling, humiliating and demeaning" way.

Keenan said Robertson's own evidence at the trial had been "wholly incredible and unreliable".

Robertson told jurors he was "no angel", but denied all the charges against him.

Gary Allan KC, defending, said Robertson had been "frozen out by the acting profession" since the accusations emerged.