A domestic abuse thug has admitted pursuing a course of jealous and controlling behaviour against a former partner in Fife and from behind the bars of Perthshire prisons.
Gary Gallagher threatened and abused the woman while he was serving sentences at a series of Scottish jails.
Following his release the possessive domestic abuser continued to pester and harass her, a court was told.
Gallagher, 34, pled guilty at Livingston Sheriff Court to engaging in a course of behaviour which was abusive to his former partner.
20 months of abuse
Gallagher admitted committing the domestically-aggravated offence at HMP Castle Huntly, near Dundee, Perth prison, HMP Shotts, addresses in Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline, on the M8 motorway; at Livingston shopping centre and elsewhere between June 1 2020 and February 8 2022.
The charge states he:
- repeatedly telephoned her and caused others to contact her on his behalf when she did not answer his calls
- repeatedly demanded she inform him who she was with and accused her of being unfaithful in a series of derogatory and threatening messages
- demanded the PIN for her phone and repeatedly took her mobile off her to examine its contents and check her messages
- threatened violence towards her friends
- stole handbags and shoes from her home
- took her car and used it without her permission
- while acting with another person whose identity is unknown to the prosecution, trashed her vehicle with a hammer
- refused to stop a vehicle in which they were both travelling to allow her to get out when she asked to
- followed her in a vehicle and when she stopped, approached her car, forced her to open her window and threatened her and others with violence
- locked her in a moving motor vehicle and continued to drive while refusing to allow her to exit.
Allegations dropped
More serious allegations were deleted from the charge, including threats to stab her, throw acid at her face and falsely allege she brought controlled drugs into a prison.
Denials were accepted that he instructed her to place a camera in her bedroom to allow him to remotely monitor her movements and threatened to share intimate images of her with others, as was a threat to shoot her ex-partner.
Allegations he threw her across a room, repeatedly punched her on the body and placed his hand over her mouth and nose to restrict her breathing were also deleted by the prosecution.
Sentence deferred
The repeat offender has spent much of his life behind bars – including serving a prison sentence imposed by the High Court.
However, Gallagher, of Coatbridge, claimed through his legal counsel he had simply been loyal to the wrong kind of people in the past.
David Taylor KC, defending, claimed his client had reached “a reflection point” in his life where there was a possibility he might put some distance between himself and his criminal past.
He said a letter to the court expressed “appropriate remorse” and contained an apology for his offending.
He said that although Gallagher had pled guilty to a serious offence, it was significantly less serious than what he originally faced.
“There’s no actual violence,” he said
Sheriff Valerie Mays called for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment and deferred sentence until 7 March and freed him on bail.
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