Former Denny man jailed for catalogue of abuse towards women

Euan Struthers, 52, carried out his first murder bid after punching a woman, pushing her onto a bed and holding a bag around her head, restricting her breathing.

A court heard that it was only by managing to puncture the black bag that the woman could breathe.

Struthers, formerly of Braes View, Denny, committed the attempted murder at a house in nearby Stenhousemuir on an occasion between January 1 in 1998 and December 31 the following year.

He subjected the woman to other attacks, including throwing boiling water at her and holding her over a banister at the top of a flight of stairs.

Struthers later carried out a further murder bid on a second woman at a house in Edinburgh between September 2009 and May in 2013.

During the assault he threw a table at the victim which struck her on the leg and she fell to the floor. He pinned her down and put his hands around her neck and throttled her.

Struthers had denied a series of charges at an earlier trial but was convicted of 15 offences, including attempted murder, serious assault and breach of the peace, involving three victims.

The offending began in 1992 and continued until 2017.

Prosecutor John Macpherson told his trial that Struthers had conducted "a campaign of violence" as he sought to control and coerce victims and would punish them if they did not conform.

The advocate depute said he would use "whatever was at hand" to inflict violence.

Struthers forced his first victim out of a car on the hard shoulder in the M9 motorway between Stirling services and Dunblane when she was pregnant during one incident.

He also subjected her to repeated assaults at houses in Stenhousemuir and Dennyloanhead, and during car trips in the Falkirk area.

She was grabbed by the hair, punched on the head and body, repeatedly kicked and stamped on and pushed so that she fell down stairs.

During one assault he seized her by the hair and repeatedly submerged her head in water.

Struthers subjected a second woman to assaults in Edinburgh. He threw water and oil at her and also punched and kicked her.

A third woman was subjected to threatening or abusive behaviour by him on June 5 in 2017 at a house in Main Street, Larbert, when he shouted and swore at her and pulled a television from the wall.

At the end of his trial the judge, Lady Poole, told him: "The abuse you subjected your victims to was prolonged, appalling and despicable."

As well as jailing Struthers today at the High Court in Edinburgh she also ordered that he be under supervision for a further three year period when he will be on licence and can be returned to prison if he breaches its conditions.