The daughter and ex-partner of a prominent Scottish anti-immigration campaigner and far-right podcaster have publicly denounced him as a violent domestic abuser.
The man at the centre of the allegations is John Watt, who came to prominence earlier this year during a series of demonstrations in Scotland against hotels housing asylum seekers.
Defender of women
On his podcast and at street rallies, Watt positioned himself as a defender of women, young girls and local communities, portraying migrants as criminals and rapists who were a menace to public safety.
He was exposed as a convicted domestic abuser by Stand Up To Racism last September, but in the last few days family members have openly spoken of his violence and abuse.
Family testimony
In 2018 he was convicted of abusing two former partners, behaviour which has now been dramatically amplified by testimony from his daughter, Katie, and her mother, Laura Shearer, one of his former partners.
Laura appeared on BBC Scotland’s ‘Disclosure’ programme this week, where she spoke about Watt’s abuse:
“People need to know what he’s actually like. What he’s done.
“He was a bully. He was a narcissist and his temper would go from one to 100 in a matter of seconds.
“How can he ask these women if they feel safe when he’s done what he’s done to women? In my opinion, it’s him that these women should be scared of.”
Laura left Watt in in 2015 after he grabbed her by the throat. She reported him to the police and he was convicted of assaulting Laura on various occasions during their decade long relationship.
He was also convicted of abusing Amanda Reilly on various occasions between August 2015 and January 2016. The jury heard that he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her from a house before hurling her down a set of stairs.
Thrown down stairs
In evidence, Amanda described one incident. She said: “John was getting angrier and angrier and he kicked my shoes off my shin, I do not know where he was aiming for but they hit my shin, they cut my leg.
“I said ‘leave me alone, why are you doing this?’ and that I was going home, he shoved me full force and I stumbled back.”
Amanda said after an argument during another night out, Watt grabbed her by the neck and hair, dragged her from the flat and threw her down stairs outside.
Appalling behaviour
At trial, Sheriff Paul Crozier told Watt his behaviour was “quite appalling” and said his crimes had “passed the custody threshold” but that he was satisfied he could be dealt with by way of a court order.
He ordered that Watt be supervised for two years and carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.
Now, Katie Brooke, his daughter, has posted a video online echoing her mother Laura’s experience at Watt’s hands, saying that when people mention her father’s name:
“The only things I can think of … are narcissist, manipulator and an abuser.
“Not love, not care, not protection – manipulation, narcissist and an abuser.
“The person that is out protesting against all these men coming into the country is the one you should be scared of.
“I completely understand why you may want to (follow Watt), because he comes along as such a lovely, genuine human being.
“But I promise you, under all of that, he is a f****** horrible person. He likes to claim that my mum manipulated me into believing that he was horrible, horrible person.
“But that is not from my mum’s point of view – that is from everything I’ve witnessed, and everything that I’ve seen. It’s not from things I’ve heard, that is from things I’ve seen.
“He thinks I didn’t see any of it because I was too young. But I remember everything. I remember everything.”
Until his exposure for domestic violence last September, Watt was at the forefront of demonstrations against migrants and asylum seekers in Glasgow, particularly at the Cladhan Hotel in Falkirk.
The revelations in September forced him to withdraw from more public activity, but he has since concentrated his efforts of his far-right podcast, ‘Bring The Noise’, and online agitation around digital ID and anti-vaxx conspiracy theories.
