Scots wife's terror as monster who beat her over four decades makes freedom bid
A wife battered over four decades by her husband has told of her terror after he launched a freedom bid. William McDonald pushed wife Eve Graham into the sea from a pier, bit her on the nose and smashed her over the head with a bucket in brutal attacks.
The 76-year-old, from Ardersier, Inverness-shire, was jailed for two years last month after being convicted of charges spanning 47 years, with a judge saying he had demonstrated a 'disturbing propensity towards violence and cruelty'.
His lawyers have now lodged appeals against his conviction and sentence. Eve, 67, says she is terrified McDonald will be freed early – and target her again.
She said: 'I'm shocked and worried that he may get off with it. Two years was a very lenient sentence to begin with for the extent of the offences and he will probably be out in one.
'Only since he got put in jail have I been able to sleep at night without worrying that he'll come and get me. If he does get out I will go back to what I was like before – living on a knife-edge.'
Eve was 17 when she met McDonald and agreed to marry him four months later. The abuse began within months, with the ex-engineer pushing her, causing her to hit her head on stairs in 1975.
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Attacks between then and 1981 saw McDonald shout and swear at Eve, hit her head with a bucket and pull and grab her body. Eve first alerted police in 1979 when she was dragged by her hair by McDonald at their home in East Kilbride.
But she claims he was simply given a 'talking to'. In 1981, McDonald threw her and repeatedly shook her causing her to hit her head on a chair because she asked him and a friend to turn music down while she cared for her sleeping baby.
Police were called and took the baby out of the property but Eve claims no further action was taken. In 1987, McDonald pushed Eve off a pier in Nairn, where they had moved with their two children.
She previously said: 'I didn't tell the police. I felt like nobody could help me. Every time nothing happened it gave him more power.' The folk musician was convicted of more abuse between August 2019 and August 2022.
In one assault he put a towel over her head and bit her on the nose. In a final attack in 2022, McDonald knelt on Eve's arm, causing deep bruising, and pushed her against walls.
On the advice of her GP, she spoke to police. In 2023, Eve went on to lodge a formal complaint over the police investigation. At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Michael O'Grady KC told McDonald he had shown 'deeply unpleasant and gratuitous cruelty'.
Police Scotland said complaints over its handling of the case had not been upheld and the force was committed to tackling domestic abuse.
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20 minutes ago
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