Angry husband stabbed wife's tyres after 'cheating' row

The incident took place at Falkland View.

John McKeown, 44, thrust a kitchen knife into all four tyres on his wife's Peugeot 206 then posted the knife and her car keys back through her letterbox.

Police were called after the incident on the afternoon of Thursday, April 16, in Falkland View, Kirkcaldy and McKeown told officers: "I never slashed them, I stabbed them.

"I plunged her tyres, all of them."

Prosecutor Katherine Fraser said the couple, who have children aged seven and five, had been married since 2011, but had been discussing separation and McKeown had agreed to move out to live with a friend.

She said: "The accused had been on and off work for the past year.

"There's some reference that the use of recreational drugs - cannabis - caused the relationship to deteriorate, while the accused believes that Mrs McKeown has cheated on him."

Ms Fraser said that about 4.45 pm on Thursday, Mrs McKeown asked her husband again if he had made arrangements to move out, and said that if he didn't, she and the children would be forced leave and move into homeless accommodation.

Ms Fraser said: "They were arguing in the kitchen and at some point he asks her to give him her car keys, which she refuses to do.

"He then goes out the back door to the car park, approaches her vehicle, and she observes him stabbing her tyres with the kitchen knife."

The cost of the damage was £240.

McKeown, an unemployed machine operator, of Falkland View, appearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court on Friday after a night in police cells, pleaded guilty to vandalism aggravated by domestic abuse.

Defence solicitor Kevin Douglas said: "Their relationship coming to an end led to this outburst of anger.

"He took it out on her car, rather than anything else."

Sheriff Derek Livingston deferred sentence for three months for the Crown to decide whether to apply for a non-harassment order to protect Mrs McKeown, and for McKeown to be of good behaviour.

He released McKeown on bail to appear at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on July 16, requiring him to reside at his father's address in Cardenden, in the meantime.

Speaking from the dock, McKeown said: "She's a cheat. Sorry, I'm emotional."