A "vicious abuser" has escaped jail after attacking his teenage girlfriend who later took her own life.
Angus Milligan, 21, assaulted 18-year-old Emily Drouet after finding out she had sexual relationship with one of his relatives.
On March 10 last year he turned up at the teenager's student accommodation at Hillhead Halls in Aberdeen, seized her by the neck and choked her leaving the teenager in fear of her life.
She was sadly found dead in her apartment a few days later on March 18 after committing suicide.
The psychology student admitted three charges when he appeared at the city sheriff court earlier this year.
He pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, sending grossly offensive messages to his former girlfriend and injuring her in an assault at her apartment.
He was placed on a year of supervision and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work as part of a community payback order.
Emily's parents, Fiona and Germain Drouet, said Milligan had "preyed on Emily's innocence and kindness".
Mrs Drouet said: "Angus Milligan has been unmasked as a vicious abuser who stole our daughter's life. Emily was studying law because she believed in justice and wanted to make a difference. Today marks her first legal victory."
"We can only hope that by telling Emily's story no young woman will have to suffer at Angus Milligan's hands again."
The family said they were now working with the Crown Office in the hope that a fatal accident inquiry would now be held into their daughter's death.
Mrs Duff said: "He fully accepts that. He was, and remains, shocked that he behaved in that way."
The court was told that the couple eventually resolved their differences and had reconciled. But they fell out again on the night that she took her own life.
Mrs Duff said: "Mr Milligan had no comprehension that Miss Drouet was capable of acting as she did. Had he thought she was he would never have left her alone.
"That will remain with him."
The sheriff told Milligan that he was placing him on a year of supervision and a community payback order as an alternative to custody.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel