A man who went viral after a dress bought for his wedding “broke the internet” is set to be sentenced on Thursday after he admitted carrying out a brutal assault on his wife.
Keir Johnston turned on his partner – at one stage threatening: “Somebody is going to die”.
The 38-year-old pinned his wife to the ground and choked her before brandishing a knife.
She desperately sent messages to friends begging for help as she knew it would take police too long to get to their home on the Isle of Colonsay in the Inner Hebrides.
But the traumatised woman eventually dialled 999 yelling down the phone: “My husband is trying to kill me.”
The attack on March 6, 2022, came seven years after the couple gained worldwide fame for the dress the mother of the bride wore at their wedding.
It sparked a global debate over its colours – black and blue or white and gold.
It was nicknamed “The Dress That Broke the Internet” after a guest shared a photo of the garment online.
The once happy couple went on to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in the USA, where they were handed $10,000 and a luxury trip to Grenada.
But the judge heard of a history of “domestic abuse” at the hands of Johnston towards his wife.
It led to him appearing in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow, where he had been due to stand trial.
The petrol station attendant – via his lawyer Marco Guarino – pleaded guilty, however, to a charge of assaulting the woman to her injury and the danger of life.
Johnston, of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, had been on bail, but was remanded in custody by Lady Drummond pending sentencing on Thursday.
Prosecutor Chris Macintosh told how it was accepted Johnson’s wife had suffered previous domestic violence – including her husband trying to strangle her – before the attack in 2022.
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