Edinburgh Man Jailed For Shooting Through Ex-Girlfriend's Window
An Edinburgh man who shot through the bedroom window of his ex-girlfriend's home after she split up with him has been jailed for seven and a half years.
Kevin Gartland twice discharged a sawn-off pump action shotgun at the room where Robyn Murtagh had been sleeping.
The frightened victim of the shooting was awakened by a loud bang and saw glass on the floor before a second shot rang out seconds later during the early morning terror.
A judge told Gartland that the victim had been "very unnerved" by the incident and his behaviour.
But Lord Jones said he had read a letter she had written on his behalf and it appeared she had overcome the incident.
The judge ordered that Gartland be kept under supervision for a further two-year period.
Defence solicitor advocate Cameron Tait said the 24 year old now accepted his behaviour was "reckless and dangerous in the extreme".
He said: "He had been taking cocaine consistently for three days."
Broken glass was all over the floor of the bedroom at Miss Murtagh's flat in Gilmerton Dykes Avenue, in Edinburgh and on her bed following the shooting.
Miss Murtagh (24) rolled out of the bed and crawled through to the hall before hearing Gartland make his getaway on a motorbike.
Gartland was later detained by armed police and the gun was found after he handed over a diagram to a visitor in Edinburgh's Saughton prison of where he had disposed of the weapon.
Unemployed Gartland earlier admitted endangering the life of his former girlfriend by culpably and recklessly discharging a shotgun at a bedroom window of her home on July 13 this year, when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh.
He also pled guilty to having a prohibited weapon and having a firearm after being sentenced to five years detention by a judge in 2008.
Gartland, of Lower Granton Road, Edinburgh, has twice been jailed for offences of serious violence.
Miss Murtagh decided to finish the relationship and on July 8 sent him a text. Gartland refused to accept it was over and repeatedly sent her messages.
She went to a party where she was talking to another man. Mr Prentice said: "The accused learned of the fact that the victim had been speaking to this male and was displeased and very jealous."
On the morning of the shooting Miss Murtagh was in bed and her daughter was staying at the home of a family member.
Afterwards Gartland fled to Penicuik on a motorbike but fell in a river. He was seen wet and dressed only a pair of boxer shorts and tried to get on a bus with a damp pounds 20 note, but was told to get change and catch the next one.
A search of his home found shotgun cartridges in a holdall.
Mr Prentice said that Gartland was visited by an associate while on remand in Saughton. Prison officers noticed he appeared to be holding something in his left hand and thought a transfer had taken place between the men.
The visitor was found to be holding a piece of paper with a diagram on it. The prosecutor said: "This piece of paper appeared to be a crude drawing of a map and directions."
It appeared to show an area known as Cameron Woods at Damhead, in Midlothian.
A dog handler was deployed and the shotgun was quickly found.