A rampaging Angus man had to be CS sprayed by police after running at them with a broken bottle following an incident in which he put a terrified female neighbour in a headlock.
Alan Stewart had earlier sent distressing texts to his estranged wife which included a claim he had strangled the family cat before the tea-time incident at a house in Kirriemuir.
Forfar Sheriff Court heard Stewart had also sent a photograph of a belt hanging from a bathroom door with the message: “You killed me, remember that”, in the lead up to the April 5 incident.
Depute fiscal Stewart Duncan said a female neighbour then saw the accused enter her garden and he grabbed her by the arms, saying he needed her car.
“He then grabbed her by the throat, pushed her into the house and towards a kitchen table,” added the fiscal.
The 36-year-old then pulled her to the floor and put her in a headlock, with the frightened victim screaming for help in the hope someone would hear her.
“At some point she took the opportunity to run out of the house to the address of another neighbour,” added the fiscal.
Police were called and found Stewart at his then-home address in Kirrie’s Knowehead, in what was described as an agitated and aggressive state.
“Police were speaking to him and he was confrontational with them,” continued Mr Duncan.
“He thereafter comes out of the property and then runs towards officers with a broken bottle in his hands.”
Officers had to spray Stewart with incapacitant and then hit his arms to get him to release the broken bottle.
In addition to his guilty plea to a charge of assault, Stewart, of Goosecroft, Forfar also admitted a further offence of breaching bail on May 17 by going back to the Kirrie house and contacting his wife.
Defence solicitor Nick Markowski said: “As a result of his consumption of alcohol he has lost his wife, his family, his employment and his home.
“He is fairly sanguine about his fate.”
Sheriff Derek Reekie said: “The problem is he has five domestic convictions and this is a very serious course of conduct.
“The pattern of offending before me started on Christmas Eve last year and the those on April 5 were very nasty and serious, involving your estranged wife and unfortunately a neighbour for whom an assault in her own home must have been absolutely frightening.
“There are no mitigatory factors at all. Community justice assess you as being of very high risk of re-offending again against your wife and there are concerns over your attitude towards your offending.”
Stewart was jailed for 15 months.
