A JOINER has been jailed after he beat up his girlfriend so badly that their hotel room was turned into a bloodbath.
Steven Howie, a full-time joiner and a canvasser for a dry cleaning company, left Karen Murray, 31, with 18 separate injuries after assaulting her over a period of an hour in the room.
Howie, 28, punched, kicked and kneed her during a prolonged assault, smashed furnishings, and pulled the door of their en-suite bathroom at the Carronbridge Hotel, in the Campsie Fells, off its hinges.
Because the inn was so isolated, Miss Murray was unable to get a signal to call police, and officers only arrived after guests in another room dialled 999.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard that Howie and Miss Murray, who had been dating for about four months, had gone to Stirling for the castle's Hogmanay celebrations, which were to have been headlined by The Waterboys.
Lindsey Brooks, prosecuting, said that "alcohol was consumed" and at one point there was an argument about Howie speaking to another female.
The Stirling Castle event was later cancelled due to bad weather, and the pair took a taxi back to the hotel about 10.30pm.
When they got back to their room, Howie began to shout and swear at Miss Murray, calling her a whore and a liar.
The depute fiscal said: "Miss Murray said it came out of the blue.
"The accused then punched her in the face, causing her nose to bleed, punched her in the stomach, and kneed her in the back numerous times."
A couple staying in the room next door phoned police, who found Howie in the hotel car park, heavily intoxicated, with blood on his T-shirt.
Miss Murray was taken to hospital in Larbert, Stirlingshire, where a police surgeon noted 18 separate injuries. They included bruising under the eyes and on the nose, damaged lips, scratches, and bruises to her jaw, both arms and both shoulders, her leg and thigh, and her abdominal wall.
Howie, of Lorimer Gardens, Dunfermline, admitted threatening violence, assaulting and injuring Miss Murray, causing damage to the room, and giving a false name to police.
His defence agent James Moncrieff said: "He is extremely remorseful and recognises that this is a very serious offence."
Mr Moncrieff told the court that Howie and Miss Murray were planning on rekindling their relationship.
Sheriff Wyllie Robertson told Howie: "I am told that your partner appears to wish to continue a relationship with you - that is a factor that I have taken into account.
"These offences are examples of sustained violence."
Sheriff Robertson said that despite the complainer's desire to continue the relationship, there was "no alternative to a custodial sentence".
He sentenced Howie to eight months' imprisonment.
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 hereComments are closed on this article