Community Payback for man who choked partner
A violent “coward” subjected his partner to almost three years of domestic abuse, including grabbing her by the hair and choking her.
The abuse took place in Fife and also on a holiday in Benidorm.
Stuart Bradford, 38, of Glebe Park, Kirkcaldy, avoided a jail sentence and was instead given the maximum level of unpaid work when he appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
He admitted that between December, 1 2022 and September 10 last year at Lochgelly, Benidorm, Kirkcaldy and elsewhere, he engaged in an abusive course of behaviour towards his partner.
He repeatedly shouted and swore at her and made offensive remarks to her. He seized her by the hair, seized her by the throat and compressed it restricting her breathing and pushed her against a wall to her injury.
He repeatedly pushed her and pressed his head against her head to her injury.
Depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf said Bradford and the woman had been in an on/off relationship for 10 years and have two children together.
The woman described the relationship was “generally positive when he was sober but he became jealous, verbally aggressive and controlling when under the influence of alcohol or drugs”.
In December 2022, they returned to her home after a night out, during which he was becoming more agitated. In the house, he shouted that she was a “slag” and a “slut”.
She told him to leave and tried to push him out of the door. Bradford “grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against a wall, applying pressure and squeezing so she had difficulty breathing and felt as if she might pass out”.
In May 2025 during a holiday in Benidorm, Bradford had been consuming “significant amounts of alcohol throughout the day”. As the couple walked back to their hotel, unknown males briefly spoke to the woman, which angered Bradford.
He started shouting at her, grabbed her hair and pulled her head to the side. He called her a “slag” said, “You wanted that guy”. The woman was crying and was subjected to further verbal abuse back at the hotel.
Bradford left the holiday early, flying home the next day. She sent him a message saying the relationship was over and he apologised for “lifting his hands to her”.
In September 2025 a meeting was arranged to discuss childcare and this ended in an argument. The woman called him a “coward” and he pushed his forehead into hers, applying pressure to her head and cheekbone.
She contacted the police and later went to hospital with facial pain and a headache. She was X-rayed and found to have suspected concussion as well as bruising.
Defence solicitor Aime Allan said her client had mental health issues exacerbated by the consumption of alcohol and drugs. This resulted in a “pressure cooker effect which would explode”.
Sheriff Krista Johnston told Bradford, “Your behaviour was immature, disgraceful, violent in a most egregious way.
“She called you a coward and I agree with that assessment. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
The sheriff imposed a community payback order with 300 hours of unpaid work, two years of supervision and participation in the Caledonian Programme for domestic offenders.
Bradford was also put on a five-year non-harassment order.