Scottish Dragon's Den contestant smashed ex's car windscreen with hammer while wearing balaclava

A man who appeared as a contestant on Dragon’s Den turned up outside his ex-partner’s home wearing a balaclava before smashing her car windscreen with a hammer.

Brian Smillie – who was in a 2018 episode of Dragon’s Den – had been in a relationship with his victim for four years, Stirling Sheriff Court heard.

The offence was committed nearly five years after the relationship ended.

The court was told that the 47-year-old and his victim had not been in contact for some time.

At 5.15am on December 3, 2024, a “loud bang” was heard outside the woman’s home in Stirling.

Smillie was seen wearing “a big jacket and a balaclava” standing with a hammer next to the woman’s VW Passat Estate, which had a broken windscreen.

Prosecutor Ann Orr said: “[The victim] was awakened by the sound of banging and looked out of her window and saw the accused outside.”

Mrs Orr said Smillie began to walk away and the woman and a relative in the house ran after him.

Smillie asked them: “Do you know who I am?”

Mrs Orr said: “[The victim] knew that it was him.”

Smillie said to the woman: “Do you know what you’ve done to me?”

He then walked off, and police were called.

He was detained and told officers he had gone to the woman’s home to get money that he said he was owed.

Mrs Orr, the depute fiscal, said that she did not have a value for the damaged windscreen that she could tell the court.

The fact that Smillie had been wearing a balaclava at the time was described at an earlier court hearing as “sinister”.

Smillie, of Stirling, appeared for sentencing on Wednesday after pleading guilty in March to behaving in a threatening and abusive manner. He had originally faced a charge of stalking, but the Crown accepted his plea to the lesser crime.

Solicitor Virgil Crawford, defending, said: “It’s a slightly unusual offence in various ways, not least because of the passage of time between the end of the relationship and this behaviour.”

Mr Crawford said it was clear from a background report on Smillie that he’d had “various difficulties in his life”.

He said: “He’d had some ups, some downs, and it is quite clear that various things were playing on his mind, effectively bringing back old memories, which then seemed to cause him to act in what might be referred to as an irrational manner on this occasion.”

Sheriff Mark O’Hanlon sentenced Smillie to 135 hours unpaid work, ordered him to attend a domestic abuse harm-reduction programme for two years, and imposed a non-harassment order banning him from approaching or contacting the woman for three years.

He told Smillie his behaviour had been “clearly distressing” to the victim.

He said: “This is a serious matter.

“Five years after the relationship ended you turned up at her address wearing a balaclava hat and more or less carrying a weapon.

“Stay away from her.”

Smillie, who showed no emotion as sentence was passed, left the court with supporters understood to be members of his family.

Smillie was the star of an intense 2018 episode of Dragons Den, when he was seeking investment for Edinburgh-based Beezer, a platform that allows anyone to create, distribute, manage and market their own app without any technical skills.

He walked away with an offer from Dragon Peter Jones who called the company “a potential unicorn” and agreed to give £125,000 for a 15% stake.

In the end Smillie decided a better deal could be found elsewhere and later said he sold his two houses and his Banksy art collection to “put everything” into Beezer.

In 2022, it was announced that he was taking on the role of head of HoloAd at York-based influencer brand platform, 2mee.