Malcolm Potier's dark past was unknown to the woman he strangled at the theatre

Theatre-lover Kirsty O'Donnell was a regular visitor to the West End to enjoy musicals and plays.

But her life took a dramatic and frightening turn during a performance of Queen musical We Will Rock You at the London Coliseum.

She was throttled by the stranger sitting next to her – a disgraced ex-millionaire who had twice tried to have his former partner murdered.

Malcolm Potier launched his violent attack on 51-year-old O'Donnell as she was singing along to Queen hits on 7 June 2023.

Potier, 75, from Sarratt in Hertfordshire, was found guilty of non-fatal strangulation at Southwark Crown Court in July and jailed for two years on Thursday.

The bizarre violent attack was the latest carried out by Potier, once a wealthy landowner who had outbid Sir Mick Jagger to buy a remote Scottish island.

O'Donnell was sitting in the dress circle at the London Coliseum when she was attacked

Among the crowd at the West End's biggest theatre on the night of the attack were Sir Rod Stewart, former Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli and comedian Jimmy Carr.

It was the show's press night, and Potier was sitting next to his partner, theatre critic Lizzie Loveridge, in the dress circle.

In her subsequent review, having already taken aim at the production itself, Loveridge wrote: "The other problem at the Coliseum is the behaviour of the audience.

"Maybe worst of all are those sing along audience members who inflict their mediocre singing voice on the rest of us."

What Loveridge's review failed to mention was that one of those people singing, O'Donnell, was throttled by Potier at about 21:45 BST.

Loveridge had told her to "shut up", to which she replied: "That's a bit rude."

Potier then told O'Donnell, "I'll show you what rude is" and pressed down on her neck for up to five seconds.

Sir Brian May delivered a guest performance on the night on 7 June 2023

"This has been particularly difficult because theatres, concerts and public events have always been an important part of my life," O'Donnell told the court.

Any trouble confronting what had happened to her was worsened by what she found out about her attacker.

O'Donnell was told the man she was to give evidence against had twice been jailed for trying to hire a hitman to kill his ex-partner, as well as her significant other.

"Because I chose to give evidence, I cannot know whether there may one day be consequences for doing so," she told the judge.

Potier outbid Sir Mick Jagger for the Scottish island of Gigha in 1989

Potier's colourful past can be traced back to the 1980s, when he was building up a vast property empire.

The chartered surveyor outbid Rolling Stones star Jagger for the idyllic Isle of Gigha, off Scotland's west coast, in 1989.

It was the jewel in the crown of his growing investment portfolio, before Swiss bankers repossessed it just three years later.

A few years later, he hit the headlines in Australia.

Potier was in custody there, having snatched his young daughter from her mother and fled there.

Police found he had entered the country on a false passport and sent him to a detention centre in Sydney.

While there, he met a man who agreed to kill his child's mother and her boyfriend.

It never happened. The man took the £4,500 Potier paid him and fled to Italy upon his release.

The next would-be killer Potier inquired about turned out to be an undercover agent and he was jailed in Australia for six-and-a-half years in 2002.

That did not stop him, however. While on remand ahead of his sentencing, Potier was again caught plotting to kill his ex-partner.

Potier, pictured in the late 1980s, made international headlines with his offending

Potier had urged his cellmate to carry out the hit, asking for it to begin with an apparent car accident.

The instructions? "Must be accident... must die. No mistakes. No drugs."

But his plot unravelled again, and Potier was sentenced to 12 years behind bars. He returned to the UK in 2015.

Reflecting on her own courage in giving evidence, O'Donnell said: "I was dealing with someone who had previously demonstrated an extraordinary willingness to use extreme violence and involve others in carrying out those crimes.

"Despite knowing this, I was determined not to let fear dictate my actions. If anything, it strengthened my resolve."

Potier is now beginning the third prison sentence of his turbulent life.

As for the Isle of Gigha, that is now in the safe hands of its residents – who crowdfunded £4m to purchase it in 2002 and take control of their own destiny.

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