A CONCERT pianist hopes to rekindle a friendship with the best-selling author he is alleged to have harassed, a court has heard.

Graeme McNaught, 54, said he believed it was possible for him and his former lover Janice Galloway to keep in touch despite the allegations against him.

Ms Galloway and McNaught met in 1990 and had a six-year on-off relationship during which their son James, 22, a London-based graphic designer, was born.

Ms Galloway later married opera singer Jonathan May and lives with him and her friend Alison Cameron at their home in Uddingston, Lanarkshire.

McNaught, of Mount Vernon, Glasgow, is on trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court and faces five charges of acting in a threatening and abusive manner and placing Ms Galloway in a state of fear and alarm. He has denied all of the claims against him.

Under cross examination from fiscal depute Imran Bashir, McNaught said: "I have an aspiration to be friends with Janice once again. I have been making an effort with her for a very long time. I am hopeful that a friendship or something of that nature can come of this, I never say never."

McNaught also accused his son and Ms Galloway of not telling the truth when they gave evidence in court.

He said: "I love my son, he is a nice and pleasant young man but he was lying in this court."

The trial before Sheriff Ray Small continues.