Senior cop went from Mr Nice Guy to petty, brutal abuser
JEKYLL & HYDE SERIAL WIFE BEATER
BY FRASER WILSON A TWISTED policeman charmed three women into relationships before turning into an abusive monster.
Iain Pittams, 49, carried out a catalogue of physical and emotional abuse on two wives and a third victim he’d been in a long-term relationship with.
The sergeant – who has 27 years’ experience in the force – lashed out at one of his victims on holiday when he couldn’t find a pair of socks.
He threw a cutlery drawer at another because it was dirty.
And Pittams met his second wife after helping her with a stalking complaint.
The shamed police officer yesterday admitted four domestic abuse charges at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court stretching back to 1991.
Pittams’s first-known campaign of abuse started against his first wife in 1988 after they moved to a home in Newmilns, Ayrshire. The couple had met in August 1986 when Pittams was in the Navy and got engaged two years later. It was when they moved into their first home that “she first noticed a deterioration in his behaviour”.
Prosecutor Katie McCall said: “Despite this, the pair got married in August 1990.
“The accused was then accepted into Strathclyde Police in August 1991 and around that time he became physically abusive during arguments.
“He would push and pull his wife and, on one occasion, he pulled at her blouse so hard he ripped the material.
“In 1992, the couple moved to Gatehead and had a baby daughter in 1993 – the complainer believed the relationship deteriorated quickly after her birth, with the accused becoming emotionally abusive towards her.”
Pittams kicked out at his wife in a row about the cutlery drawer not being clean enough. He threw it at her.
Ms McCall added: “The complainer said her personality very quickly changed after this and she became anxious and nervous. She ended the relationship in November 1993.”
He met his second wife in late 1998 when he helped her as a victim of crime.
The were married by 2001 but separated in 2004. Pittams subjected the woman to physical and domestic abuse at their home in Kilmarnock.
Ms McCall told the court: “He would shove her frequently. On one occasion, they were arguing in the house while the accused was eating pizza. As he was taking a bite, the complainer pushed a slice of the pizza into his chin and he lost his temper.
“He grabbed a metal clothes horse and threw it at her as she ran down the stairs.”
Pittams, now of Hamilton, was with the third victim from 2004 to 2013. They never married but lived together in Ayr. Ms McCall said he was “very pleasant” at the start but “as the relationship progressed, he changed and became controlling”.
The thug lost his temper over a missing pair of socks while they were on holiday in 2011.
Pittams pushed the woman on to the bed and kicked the door shut, trapping her.
When they separated, he continued to text and email her. Pittams even turned up at her doorstep in police uniform and, one time, parked his police car outside her house. Last June, colleagues in Glasgow confronted Pittams about his behaviour. He was later arrested and charged. Sheriff Craig Hanlon deferred sentence for reports. Pittams’s bail was continued.