Serial abuser handed 10-year punishment

JAMIE BEATSON

from summer 1999 until December 2001.

McLaren, 50, a prisoner at HMP Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to four charges of assault to injury.

Defence solicitor Kevin Hampton said: “The social worker preparing the reports on him has formed the view he is trying to shift responsibility for these offences. It is his position he has very little recollection of these offences due to alcohol.

“He accepts it is his responsibility and he was the one who committed these offences.”

On imposing the 10-year sentence, Sheriff Alastair Brown said: “The drunken boor of a man assaulting his female partner is not just a figure in a cartoon – but has in the past and continues today to be a horrific reality for many women. It will not be tolerated.”