Man jailed for attacking woman who ‘gave sanctuary’ to friend

A sheriff yesterday told a thug, who burst into a young mother’s home as part of a gang of five, beat her with a Buckfast bottle, threatened her with a hammer, and punched and kicked her so badly she was left with broken teeth and 14 separate injuries, that in days gone by he would have hanged.

Jamie Wallace, 34, who was jailed for two and a half years, gave “an absolute hiding” to Leesa-Marie Myles, who was sheltering Wallace’s girlfriend.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard that Miss Myles, 27, was “giving sanctuary” to Wallace’s partner, Nicola Jane Barr, 33, when at nearly midnight Wallace’s customised VW Polo “screeched” to a halt outside her first floor flat in Main Street, Doune.

Miss Myles went to her hall and tried to hold her stormdoors closed, but Wallace and four other males barged in and the “shocking” assault began.

Another 31-year-old female friend of Miss Myles was dragged out of a back bedroom and also “given a tanking”, the court heard.

After a five-day trial, a jury of four men and 11 women took less than an hour to find Wallace, of North Lea, Doune, guilty, by majority, of acting with others and assaulting Miss Myles to her injury on August 1.

He had denied the charge, but did not give evidence.

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson told him: “This was serious offence involving invading the complainer’s home and seriously assaulting her.

“The gravity of this is such that no sentence other than custody is appropriate.

“In historical times this offence was what was called a capital offence, which meant you would have faced the death penalty.”