EVIDENCE HEARD AGAINST BUNNYMEN STAR

Last updated: Thursday, September 7, 2006

EVIDENCE HEARD AGAINST BUNNYMEN STAR

LATEST: ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN frontman IAN McCULLOCH attacked two fans during a backstage dispute after a concert, a Scottish court heard yesterday (06SEP06).

IAN MCCULLOCH of Echo & the Bunnymen performing at the O2 Wireless Music Festival 2005 held at Hyde Park. London, England- 29.06.05

McCulloch, 46, is charged with assaulting fans GARY DUNCAN and JULIET SEBLEY after the band's concert in Glasgow's Barrowlands venue in October (05). The NOTHING LASTS FOREVER denies the charges.

Duncan, a mental health support worker, gave evidence to Justice of the Peace ROBERT HAMILTON at Glasgow District Court yesterday, claiming the singer pushed him repeatedly.

He said he and Sebley were getting ready to leave when they were told they might be able to go backstage.

He added: "Juliet said that she could use the toilet, at which point I asked if there was a toilet we could use." As they made their way across the backstage area towards a smaller room, Duncan spotted McCulloch standing in a doorway, at which point Duncan claims he politely asked, "Excuse me, we're just going to use the toilet."

Duncan claims he and his girlfriend went into separate cubicles and were only there a few minutes when they suddenly heard "fierce roaring and threatening language".

Duncan told the court, "(McCulloch) was threatening to kick the doors in of the toilets if we didn't get out."

On leaving the cubicle, Duncan alleged the star grabbed his jacket and "pushed and pulled him in a threatening manner" for some considerable time until a member of McCulloch's entourage intervened.

Duncan then asked where his girlfriend was, to which he was told by the member of the entourage, "Don't worry, she'll be all right with Mac," which he took to mean McCulloch. He was in a state of "disbelief" when his girlfriend ran past him "in a state of stress and in fear and was clutching her head at her right temple." When he saw her head was bleeding they called the police.

Duncan rejected a suggestion from defence MURRAY MACARA that McCulloch had merely placed his hand on his back and escorted him from a private area of the dressing room.

Sebley also gave evidence yesterday, alleging she heard an altercation between her boyfriend and another man when she was in the toilet cubicle, and she took the other voice to be McCulloch's.

When the voice became abusive, she told the court, "I said 'Please just give me a moment', because I was in a vulnerable situation and hadn't finished. I just remember the door hitting in the side of my head because when it came in I was still sitting on the toilet."

Sebley rejected the suggestion the door had swung open and hit her in the head because it had been unlocked.

The case was adjourned to 18 September (06), when a police interview with the Echo and the Bunnymen star will be heard by the jury.

| Thursday, September 7, 2006

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EVIDENCE HEARD AGAINST BUNNYMEN STAR

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