Student is jailed over throttling his ‘ex’

A student convicted of throttling his ex-girlfriend has been jailed for two years at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

Clark Hutchinson, who maintains he is innocent, shook his head as Sheriff Thomas Millar told him the attack has had a“catastrophic”effect on his victim.

Kerrie Latta, had branded her former boyfriend“intense and controlling” during their four-month relationship.

Hutchinson (31), of Kelvin Gardens, Hamilton, was found guilty of assaulting Ms Latta at her flat in the same block in September 2016. She passed out during the assault.

He was convicted by a jury and when he appeared for sentence his solicitor, Duncan Milligan, said it was difficult to put forward any mitigation as Hutchinson“does not accept the verdict”.

The agent pointed out that Ms Latta had conceded there were no other violent episodes during their time together.

He added:“my client has never before been involved in offending behaviour and is a first offender in the true sense of the word. He has stayed out of trouble over the last 15 months.

“It would appear that whatever happened on this occasion was very much a one-off. Apart from this matter, he is a person of unblemished character.”

However, Sheriff Millar pointed to comments made by Ms Latta about Hutchinson being“intense and controlling”during their time together. She claimed he had prevented her from seeing friends.

Mr Milligan said Hutchinson rejected that, saying:“in his view it was a normal relationship. They each wanted to know where the other was.

“He did not regard his behaviour as being overbearing or sinister. He wasn’t checking up on her.”

The solicitor said Hutchinson has had mental health troubles since his late teens and his university studies have suffered as a result of this case “hanging over him”, to the extent that he had to repeat a year.

He is in a new relationship and the defence suggested that, despite the serious nature of the charge, he could be given a non-custodial sentence given his lack of previous convictions.

The plea was rejected by Sheriff Millar who described the assault as “very serious”. Hutchinson had gone to Ms Latta’s home, grabbed her and taken her phone from her so she couldn’t call for help. He had then put his hand on her neck and applied pressure to such an extent that she lost consciousness.

The sheriff told him:“this has had a pretty catastrophic effect, according to her evidence. She had to be re-housed, still suffers panic attacks and is seeing her GP. It’s only fortunate the consequences were not even more serious.

“The case can’t be dealt with other than by the imposition of a custodial sentence.”