A convicted rapist terrified his own mother in a row over curry sauce that spilled from a takeaway meal. Daniel Gallacher, 31, “flew off the handle” after the sauce fell to the floor, leaving his mum, Karen McKay, so frightened she shut herself in the bathroom and felt “a prisoner in her own home”.
Background of offending
Gallacher, who was previously jailed for six years for rape, was also sentenced to 32 months for abducting and assaulting a man who later took his own life. Airdrie Sheriff Court heard he was freed on licence in January this year and within weeks was back in trouble, according to the Daily Record.
The incident
Gallacher admitted threatening or abusive behaviour towards his mum at her Coatbridge home on February 1. The court heard a delivery driver arrived with a food order, but a portion of curry sauce fell to the floor. Gallacher yelled at his mum that she “would have some f*****g mess to clean up”, threw a fork at her and shouted abuse.
Karen contacted a relative who came to help, but Gallacher’s verbal abuse continued. When police arrived, Karen told officers: “I'm terrified of him. I thought he was going to kill me. He's terrible when he's like this. I feel like a prisoner in my own home. I tried to explain it wasn't my fault I dropped his food. I offered to phone and ask for a new one but he just flew off the handle.”
Gallacher was also convicted of striking his mum repeatedly on the head during another incident on May 2.
Court outcome
Defence lawyer Eddie Kelly suggested Gallacher would benefit from social work supervision, telling the court: “An anger management programme might help control his offending.” But Sheriff Tony McGlennan said he could not ignore that Gallacher was on bail and on early release from prison at the time. The sheriff jailed him for 237 days.
Last year, the Daily Record reported how the grieving family of Nathan Dawson, 20, who took his own life, blamed Gallacher and his brother Craig for his death. The pair abducted Nathan in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, in December 2024, bundled him into a car and drove him to a remote spot seven miles away before Daniel Gallacher beat him with a wrench. Nathan took his own life in October last year, three weeks before the brothers’ trial was to take place. His family said he was terrified at the prospect of giving evidence against them.
