Mum cleared of murder is left in pool of blood after ex attack
Victim’s skull visible after brute battered her with a wooden pole
A MUM cleared of a gruesome unsolved murder was left in a pool of blood after her former lover tracked her down and subjected her to a brutal beating with a wooden pole.
Angela Newlands’ skull was clearly visible after Tommy Doyle repeatedly struck her so hard that chunks of flesh were gouged out during the Valentine’s Day attack.
Newlands had been in a violent relationship with Doyle and believed she had escaped his clutches after spending time in a refuge before being re-housed in a “safe” cottage.
But Doyle, who was furious after discovering she’d given birth to another man’s child days earlier, found out where she was living and stormed past a makeshift barricade.
Doyle, 41, a prisoner at Perth, was remanded in custody yesterday and warned that he would be sentenced to a lengthy period behind bars.
He admitted forcing entry to the home in Crieff, Perthshire, and assaulting Newlands by striking her on the head and body with a pole.
He also admitted rendering her unconscious and knocking her to the ground, before kicking her to her severe injury, while he was on bail.
Doyle further admitted acting in a threatening or abusive manner by being racist towards cops and using the phrase “baldy Scottish b ***** d.”
Perth Sheriff Court heard Newlands was in the house alone when drunken Doyle turned up and demanded entry. Despite blocking the door with a washing machine, Doyle was able to smash his way in.
Fiscal depute Matthew Kerr said: “She heard the glass panel smash and his face appeared in the broken window. He reached in, turned the key and opened the door.”
Newlands offered Doyle cash to try to get rid of him but he told her she had made him look foolish by having a baby with another man.
Mr Kerr said she saw Doyle with a wooden object in his hand and he struck her with it. A neighbour heard a bang, a woman scream and a man’s voice shouting.
The court hear that when she came round, she was in another room with a cop. There was blood spattered all over the cottage.
Mr Kerr added: “She had a threeinch deep laceration to the left side of her head, through which the skull was visible. She had multiple marks and bruises.”
Sheriff Euan Duthie deferred sentence for reports and told Doyle: “Clearly, you are facing a lengthy period of imprisonment.”
Newlands, 31 – who was cleared of the as-yet-unsolved murder of Annalise Johnstone – gave birth to her fifth child in January this year.
Annalise’s body was found at the Maggie Wall’s Witch Monument in Dunning, Perthshire, in May 2018. Her throat had been cut and she sustained non-survivable injuries.
Newlands was cleared of the murder as a judge ruled there was not enough evidence to convict her.
Jordan Johnstone – who admitted carrying his dead sister’s body for two miles and dumping her by a roadside – was also cleared of murder after the jury returned a not proven verdict.