Thug threatened to kill former lover

Mar 25 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A THUG who subjected his former partner to two terrifying assaults and threatened to kill her has been jailed.

A local court was told that Colin Leggate couldn’t accept the relationship was over.

On one occasion he even grabbed his former lover from outside another house and carried her back to his home.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard that on May 31 his former partner and two friends went round to Leggate’s home to collect some belongings.

“On entering the property the accused began shouting and screaming at her,” fiscal depute Claire Martin said.

“He then grabbed her by the top of her clothing and threw her against a wall causing her to strike her head which caused soreness to the back of her head.”

Leggate then turned up at a house in Uphall his former lover was at on August 17 last year, the sheriff court heard.

The fiscal depute explained: “She did not want to speak to him but realised he would not go away from the door.

“She then went to speak to him and stood at the door.

“A witness then saw the accused pick up the complainer and he heard her pleading with him to put her down but he ran off carrying her.

“After a few minutes he put her down and assaulted her by punching and kicking her several times on the head and body while taking her down the road to his house.”

The complainer was taken to the accident and emergency department at St John’s Hospital in Livingston where she was found to have various injuries to her left arm and shoulder, both thighs, soreness to her chest and swelling to the back of her head.

However, the sheriff court heard that this was not the end of her ordeal at the hands of Leggate.

A week later on August 24 the complainer was sitting in the back garden of her friend’s home with a group of pals when they became aware of Leggate jumping over the fence.

He ran towards his former partner but they managed to get into the house and call the police.

However later that day the victim, who was again in her friend’s garden, received a sinister call from Leggate.

He told her: “You think you are smarter than me. I am going to kill you. I have a knife, can’t you see.”

At this time his victim looked up and saw Leggate next to a tree in the back garden and ran into the house and called the police.

Last week at the court Leggate, whose address was given as Almondell Road, Broxburn, pled guilty to two charges of assault and one of breach of the peace.

His solicitor, Darryl Lovie, told the court, the relationship between Leggate and the victim could be described as turbulent and volatile.

“He found it increasingly difficult to cope with the breakdown of this particular relationship.

“To an extent he buried his head in the sand by taking controlled substances,” Mr Lovie said.

“By August he was really not thinking rationally.

“He attempted to take his own life so low had he become. That is not to say he doesn’t deserve punishment for what he did.

“He knows that in no circumstances can violence, particularly domestic violence, be condoned.

“It ultimately had the very reverse affect of what he wanted which was the continuation of this relationship.”

Sheriff Donald Muirhead said he had no option but to jail Leggate.

Sentencing him to 121 days Sheriff Muirhead said:

“There is no doubt that in August last year you were in quite a state but the psychiatrist puts that down to alcohol and drug use and these are no excuse.

“There are two aspects that push it over the edge which mean they should only be dealt with by means of custody.

“First is the persistent nature of the offences and secondly the control you had over her.

“She was very frightened of you and it was only after she had left and was living with her friend that she felt able to make a full statement and let police know the full details of the offences.”