Bo’ness mother fled to fast food shop to call police

Jason Ingleby (43) appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court last Thursday having admitted the assault he committed at an address in Linlithgow Road, Bo’ness on September 20 last year. The violence grew out of a minor argument which started when they began talking about his former partners.

Procurator fiscal depute Jamie Roy said: “The accused and the complainer had been in a relationship for four years and had a child together who was nine months old at the time of these events.

“The accused arrived at the address of his ex partner for a pre-arranged appointment to get access to his son. He ended up staying at the premises that night and throughout the next day.

“In the evening they had a drink together. His ex partner was sitting on the sofa and their infant son was in a baby walker in the living room. The accused lunged forward and grabbed the right hand side of her face and her hair.

“Then he held her down and punched her twice to the head. She managed to push him away, picked up her son and ran from the address. She ran to a fast food shop across the road and asked staff members to call the police.

“A witness saw her lip was swollen and she had redness to her cheek.”

The court heard Ingleby had five previous convictions for domestic offences and had spent time in prison in 2015.

It was stated he had replaced his heroin addiction with alcohol dependence.

Sheriff Derek Livingston spared Ingleby, 1 Gowan Brae, Kirkintilloch, a jail sentence, stating: “I want to see if something can be to make you less of a danger to females.”

He was placed on a two-year supervised community payback order with the condition he complete 250 hours of unpaid work within 9 months. He was also told to engage with the UP2U programme and adhere to a six-month restriction of liberty order to stay in his home between 7pm and 7am and a two-year non-harassment order forbidding him from entering Linlithgow Road.