A Moray dad who bit his ex-partner on the leg and sent her offensive messages was spared jail yesterday.
Billy Milne, 26, split up with the mother of his two children in 2016 after a five-year relationship.
But in the years afterwards he attacked her, sent her threatening social media messages and turned up to her home uninvited.
Yesterday he admitted causing her fear and alarm when he appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court.
The court heard that in October 2016, he bit his victim on the upper leg, causing a bruise, which was shown in court.
In addition to that, he sent her two Facebook messages during the summer of 2018, the first calling her a “snitch” and a “traitor”.
The second was a picture of himself holding a small blade, believed to be a Stanley knife, wrapped in masking tape.
In July 2018, he also turned up at her property in Buckie uninvited and knocked on her door, before calling through the letterbox asking their children to let him in.
His solicitor Stephen Carty said: “I have spoken to the mother of the accused and she has informed me that during the course of secondary school Mr Milne attended at the Rowan Centre and had been getting assistance for underlying mental health issues.
“He has acknowledged that this has impacted on his behaviour and has led him to not have contact with his children.”
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov said Milne’s offences were serious but she stopped short of locking him up.
However she ordered Milne, of St Andrews Court, to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and said he was barred from approaching his former partner for 12 months.
She also placed him under supervision for two years, and a restricted order.
