Arbroath man jailed for violent assault on girlfriend

A violent, repeat offender was jailed for three years today after a brutal attack on a girlfriend who poured his drink away.

Conor Munro flew into a rage with his partner after she emptied his whisky down a sink and assaulted her, leaving her with blood clogging at the back of her throat making it difficult to breathe.

His victim was hysterical, crying and shouting for help but staff at supported accommodation where Munro was living decided not to open the office door and confront him for their own personal safety.

The victim was told help was on the way and police were called. When officers arrived they found her standing outside at North Grimsby, Arbroath, in Angus, with her clothes blood stained.

24-year-old Munro earlier admitted assaulting the young woman to her severe injury and the danger of her life on September 21 last year, when he appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court.

He grabbed her by the neck, repeatedly struck her, chased her through the premises, pulled at her face, put a hand over her mouth and placed her in a headlock in an attempt to drag her up stairs.

Donnelly also admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and assaulting a police sergeant by spitting at him at the Angus town's police station.

But a sheriff sent his case to the High Court in Edinburgh which has greater sentencing powers to consider the imposition of an Order for Lifelong Restriction.

A full risk assessment was carried out of Munro which concluded that the risk he posed to the safety of the public at large was medium and might not be enduring.

Lord Ericht told Munro that in the circumstances he was not satisfied that the criteria for imposing an OLR were met in his case. Under an OLR a court sets the minimum term an offender serves in jail but any future release is left to the parole authorities under the indeterminate sentence.

But the judge said he had subjected his victim to "a terrifying attack" and in addition to the prison sentence he would impose a 12-month supervised release order on him.

Lord Ericht imposed conditions on the supervision period including that Munro must inform his supervisor of any developing romantic relationships.

Defence counsel Derick Nelson said Munro clearly had convictions gave rise to a cause for concern. He said: "Those convictions do show there is a propensity towards violent conduct."

But he said Munro was still a young man and if he was to maintain a period of stability his issues could be addressed.