Window is smashed after row

Jun 25 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A MAN who smashed a window after an argument with his wife has been fined.

Kenneth Meek had been out drinking with his wife in various pubs in Linlithgow during the evening of May 15 this year.

At around 9pm they ended up in the Lithgae Arms and while there they had an argument with Meek shouting at her.

She was alarmed by his behaviour and as a result he was asked to leave the pub.

The woman then phoned her daughter and told her not to let him back into the house.

Later at 1am the daughter was in the house when she heard a loud crash and she saw Meek outside bleeding from a cut on his hand.

She contacted the police and when they arrived the 35-year-old told them he had ‘put in a window’ with his fist’.

At Linlithgow Sheriff Court Meek, whose address was given as Braehead Terrace, Linlithgow, pled guilty to the offences.

His solicitor, Andy Aitken, said Sheriff Douglas Kinloch would be disappointed that Meek had committed the offences four months into a two-year probation order.

Mr Aitken added: “He had otherwise been progressing well and that makes it even more disappointing that this offence was committed under the influence of alcohol.

“This was the exception to the rule and he is not drinking to excess anymore. Were it not for the fact that he was progressing so well on the probation order he knows he would be looking at a custodial sentence.”

Fining Meek £165 and ordering him to pay £100 compensation to repair the window Sheriff Kinloch said: “I put you on probation on condition of carrying out unpaid work in June of this year on an assault charge of a domestic nature.

“So it is fairly disappointing that a short time later here you are again in front of the court on a domestic matter.

“Fortunately the breach of the peace was minor and so I am going to allow the probation order to continue and deal with these matters by a financial penalty.”