Brechin man jailed for brutal street attack on girlfriend

A man who battered his girlfriend in the middle of a main road – then tried to make her cover up for him while he sat in his jail cell – was yesterday jailed for more than three years.

John Brand launched a vicious attack on Carrie-anne Lindsay on Union Street in Brechin on May 16, punching and kicking her over and over again and leaving her with a broken arm.

The victim later told police she did not want to make a statement against Brand and that “all she wanted was to resume her relationship” with him.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard she was “at extremely high risk of further abuse” by the 25-year-old.

Having been locked up in Perth Prison over the attack, Brand made repeated calls to Miss Lindsay that were recorded on the jail’s phone system.

In one, he urged her to approach prosecutors and ask them to drop the charges. In another he demanded she get witnesses to delete videos made of the vicious beating.

Brand, a prisoner at Perth, admitted charges of assault to severe injury, police assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Defence solicitor Billy Rennie said: “He’s ill-equipped to lead a normal life in the community.”

Sheriff Alastair Brown jailed Brand for a total of three years and four months.

He said: “The picture which emerges is of a man who is the classic domestic abuser.

“There are no circumstances in which controlling, manipulating and assaulting an intimate partner manifests anything approaching what normal people would regard as love or even care for the person concerned.”