Violent drunk is jailed

Sep 21 2009 Paisley Daily Express

A THUG who brutally attacked his partner has been jailed after he repeatedly ignored a court order which banned him from going near her.

James Mitchell had been warned he would end up behind bars if he ignored the order, which was put in place in a bid to prevent him from even entering the street in Paisley’s East End where Catherine Gallagher lives.

The ban was imposed on 46-year-old Mitchell after he appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court to admit seizing his partner by the hair and dragging her out of the flat they shared before dragging her up and down the common close there.

But, just three days later, police caught him at the entrance to the tenement where Ms Gallagher lives after receiving an anonymous tip-off that he had returned there.

He was arrested for ignoring the court order and admitted his guilt when he landed in the dock at the same court.

Mitchell has made two subsequent appearances in the dock to admit copycat charges. Last month, he was fined £200 when he admitted being in breach of the bail condition.

He was then hauled back to court and had sentence deferred until October 30 after pleading guilty to more repeat offending.

Now Sheriff Brian McCaffrey has jailed defiant Mitchell for four months, telling the accused he had been “the author of his own misfortune.”

Depute fiscal Frank Clarke said it seemed Mitchell and Ms Gallagher were inter- dependant and he found it impossible to stay away from her and abide by the bail condition.

It was stated the accused had again turned up at her home, regardless of the fact he had been ordered sternly to stay away.

When Mitchell made his latest appearance from custody, Sheriff McCaffrey told him: “A court has made an order and you repeatedly say ‘so what?’ and keep going back.

“You knew what you were doing – either comply or face going to prison.

“You are the author of your own misfortune for continually defying these orders.”

At a previous court appearance, it was stated that a neighbour of Ms Gallagher heard a disturbance on July 2 and was horrified to see Mitchell assaulting his partner.

The couple had lived together for seven months before Mitchell carried out the violent attack.

They had been drinking when, suddenly and for no apparent reason, Mitchell grabbed Ms Gallagher by the hair and pulled her out of the flat via the hallway before continuing to drag her up and down the common close while shouting at her.

The shocked neighbour pleaded with Mitchell to stop the attack and, after he left the scene, his victim telephoned the police to report what had happened.

The court heard that an argument had developed over what Mitchell and his partner were watching on television that day.