He stole our daughter’s life
Parents’ agony as boyfriend who beat girl days before she killed herself walks free
A MOTHER told how her daughter’s life was ‘stolen’ by her abusive boyfriend, who yesterday walked free despite assaulting her just days before she took her own life.
Emily Drouet died eight days after former public schoolboy Angus Milligan turned up at her halls of residence and choked her in a jealous rage.
The 18-year-old sent a friend a selfie of her swollen face to document her abuse at Milligan’s hands. She had arrived at the University of Aberdeen to begin her law degree only six months earlier.
Psychology student Milligan, 21, pled guilty earlier this year to assaulting Miss Drouet, verbally threatening and abusing her and sending offensive and menacing texts.
But yesterday he escaped a jail term – and was instead sentenced to 12 months’ supervision and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work as part of a community payback order.
After the hearing at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Miss Drouet’s parents Fiona and Germain said Milligan had ‘preyed on Emily’s innocence and kindness’, and subjected her to weeks of verbal, physical and psychological abuse.
Mrs Drouet said: ‘Angus Milligan has been unmasked as a vicious abuser who stole our daughter’s life. Emily was studying law because she believed in justice and wanted to make a difference. Today marks her first legal victory.
‘No sentence Angus Milligan receives can reflect the destruction he has caused or bring Emily back.’ She added they were working with the Crown Office in the hope an inquest would be held into their daughter’s death. Milligan, from Edinburgh, is from a family of distinguished lawyers and judges. He previously attended several private schools, including Tony Blair’s old school Fettes College.
The court heard he assaulted Miss Drouet in March 2016 after hearing she had been unfaithful.
Eight days later, Miss Brouet, from Glasgow, took her own life in her room – shortly after Milligan was seen visiting her.
Despite escaping a jail term, he could face being thrown out of university after officials confirmed he would face ‘internal disciplinary procedures’ due to his conviction.
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