A MAN who wooed women by being "Prince Charming" before turning into a violent abuser has been jailed for four years.
John Watt, 34, spent 14 years in the Dunfermline area abusing women after showering them with affection.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how one of his victims - Charlene Hynd, 35 - became terrified after she became pregnant with his child. Fearing she would never be free of him if she had his baby, she was forced to have an abortion.
Watt, who earlier admitted a series of domestic assault charges, was only caught when the father of one of his victim contacted police. Officers started investigating and contacted his former partners.
Passing sentence, judge Lady Wolffe said: "The physical attacks and injuries reflected are nothing as compared with the lasting mental or psychological impact on some of your former partners.
"A home should be a place of safety and refuge; not a place of fear and abuse. In an intimate domestic setting, domestic partners are deserving of respect from their partners and of protection if they are subjected to violence."
"Domestic abuse is not acceptable in a modern society and it is the responsibility of the court to reflect that understanding."
Watt, a prisoner of HMP Perth, pleaded guilty to a number of vicious serious domestic assault charges between 1999 and 2013.
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