Man jailed for throttling woman for singing during We Will Rock You

A man who once ordered a hitman to kill his ex-partner has been jailed for throttling a woman because she was singing along during a performance of We Will Rock You.

Malcolm Potier, 75, grabbed Kirsty O'Donnell when a row broke out during a show at the London Coliseum in 2023.

Southwark Crown Court heard Potier's partner had told Ms O'Donnell to be quiet, to which she replied: "That's a big rude."

Potier responded by saying "I will show you what rude is", as he leaned over and pressed down on her neck for about three to five seconds, strangling her.

Prosecutors said it left Ms O'Donnell in a "state of shock and fear, tearful and felt unable to report him".

She later found his partner on Facebook, and Potier was identified by police.

Judge Dafna Spiro sentenced Potier to two years in prison on Thursday, calling it a "wholly disproportionate response to a trivial disagreement".

The court also heard details about his criminal past, which the judge said had a "common thread of dominance, control, and lack of accountability".

He used to be property tycoon and once owned an island in the Scottish Hebrides where he held the title Laird of Gigha.

Hitman plot rumbled

Potier was detained in Australia in 2000 after fleeing the UK with his daughter during family court proceedings, and while in a New South Wales jail he revealed a plan for a hitman to kill his ex-partner's new boyfriend.

Southwark Crown Court heard he did not initially want his former partner murdered, but went on to take actions to have her killed as well.

He called a friend to arrange the hit, then asked her to find a second killer when the first plan failed. Potier also said he would pay a fellow inmate's £4,500 bond if he did it.

Prosecutors said Potier's friend alerted the police, who deployed an undercover officer posing as a hitman.

Potier ended up with a sentence in Australia of nearly seven years, and then a second 12-year jail term for trying to get a fellow inmate to murder his partner.

The second attempt was foiled because his cell was bugged while he awaited sentencing for the first offences.

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Potier returned to the UK in 2015 under a violent offender order, designed to keep tabs on him and manage the risk.

He denied the theatre attack, saying he couldn't remember going to the show and that another man had taken his seat.

The story changed again; Potier claiming he had been in the theatre but in a different seat and that he had a hand injury that meant couldn't have carried out the attack.

He declined to give evidence and the jury convicted him of non-fatal strangulation.

(c) Sky News 2026: Man jailed for throttling woman for singing during We Will Rock You