Jailed after pitching tent outside ex-partner's Hallglen home

On June 27 George McPhee (33) turned up at her home in Hallglen and shouted and swore when she refused to let him in.

Neighbours in Shetland Place called the police after watching him pitch a tent in the garden area outside. When officers arrived he was shouting up at Kerry Campbell’s window demanding she give him a blanket or he would kick the door in.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard last Thursday that McPhee was on bail for that offence when he went back on July 6 and entered the house. Police found him hiding in a bedroom. On October 9 he breached his bail once more by repeatedly phoning her from a public phone in a store at Orkney Place, Hallglen. When she called him back he was “intoxicated” and asked her for money. Later that day McPhee was back at Shetland Place being abusive and shouting and swearing. This time when the police tried to arrest him he struggled violently and threatened them.

The court was told McPhee had first been told to stay away from the area last June, but ignored the bail restriction less than a month later.

Defence lawyer Lynn Swan said “binge drinking” and mental health issues were to blame for McPhee’s problems.

She told the court: “The relationship had been going on for some time, but was not the best. Over the past year there have been problems for him because of his alcohol difficulties.

“The contact in October was because he was trying to recover his benefit payments that had been paid into her account and he had no access to it. He had no interest in contacting her for any other reason.”

Sheriff Derek Livingston rejected the lawyer’s plea that McPhee, from 54 Alexander Avenue, Falkirk, avoid jail and be tagged instead. He told him: “I have absolutely no confidence you will co-operate with court orders. There is no alternative to custody.”