A serial wife-beater has come within a whisker of jail after the latest attack on his partner.
Sheriff Gregor Murray at Forfar told Graham Spink that any further problems will lead the 47-year-old straight to prison after another drink-fuelled assault of the type which has littered the Montrose man’s record in the past five years.
Oil industry assembly technician Spink, of Renny Crescent pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening manner towards his wife on April 22 and assaulting her by slapping her on the head to her injury.
Defence solicitor Nick Markowski said the couple had been together for six years and married for two, and on the night of the offence had been drinking at home when an argument broke out and he slapped her.
Police arrived and could hear shouting, added the solicitor, who handed up letters to the bench from both Spink’s employer and his spouse.
Mr Markowski said: “He is appearing in court as a very worried man, given the nature of the offence and his record.”
The court heard previous offending had led to a fine, followed by a community order for a 2013 matter which took place in Edinburgh and then a “substantial” number of hours of unpaid work after Spink breached bail by going to a Glasgow wedding with his wife.
“She has made it clear she wishes the relationship to continue and her words to me were that if he receives a jail sentence then she would be doing it as well,” added Mr Markowski.
“99 times out of 100 they go out and nothing happens. He is a 47-year-old married man with otherwise no issues in his life and his liberty is at risk.
“He doesn’t want to put himself in that position and he doesn’t want to put his wife in that position.”
Sheriff Murray told Spink: “I don’t mean any disrespect to your wife’s circumstances when I say that I ignore that, because this is all your fault.
“You have had three offences in the last five years, two in one year.
“You haven’t learned anything from that despite carrying out a lot of hours of unpaid work,” added the sheriff.
“Just, there is an alternative, but the slightest hint of any difficulty in the future and there will be no alternative.”
Spink will be the subject of an 18-month Community Payback Order including 160 hours of unpaid work. He must also undertake the Fergus programme for domestic offenders and undergo alcohol treatment.
