Thug put his partner through life of hell

Two-year jail term handed down by sheriff

A violent Airdrie thug who subjected his longsuffering partner to years of violence has been jailed.

Andrew Lee, 50, slapped, headbutted and kicked the woman, who told a court she had a life of hell.

He hit her on the head with a picture and pulled her hair.

And she described herself as “a stupid woman putting up with a man who hit her”.

But she eventually found the courage to report Lee to the police.

Lee denied the charges but was convicted at Glasgow Sheriff Court of assaulting the woman between 2002 and 2009 at a number of houses – including a property in Airdrie.

When Lee’s 46-year-old victim gave evidence from behind screens at the court she was asked to tell the jury who she began a relationship with in 2002.

She said: “I don’t want to say his name” before procurator fiscal depute Mark Allan confirmed with her that Lee was her former partner.

Lee, who is serving five years for charges of assault and lewd and libidinous practices imposed in 2013, was jailed by Sheriff Daniel Scullion for two years.

The sentence is to be added to his current prison term.

The sheriff told him: “You have been convicted by the jury of a charge which alleges a course of violent conduct against your former partner within a number of different homes in which you lived with her and her children.

“It’s quite clear from the evidence which was heard during the trial that your conduct towards your former partner has had a significant effect upon her.”