Life in jail for violent serial abuser who murdered vulnerable Glenrothes gran

Mark Campbell (37) was found by police in the driver's seat of his car with his final victim, Jane Fitzpatrick, dead beside him. The 48-year old was the seventh woman who suffered at his hands during an 11 year crime spree of.physical and sexual violence.

Campbell had earlier induced his victim to discharge herself from hospital against medical advice before savagely inflicting head injuries on her with a tyre iron.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh ordered that Campbell must serve at least 27 years in prison before he becomes eligible to apply for release on parole.

Lady Poole said: "Our society will not tolerate domestic abuse against women. The sentences the courts impose on abusers must reflect that. The murder you committed was aggravated by it being your partner that you killed and by you being on bail at the time. Your car was covered with her blood and there was blood on the wall of a nearby garage."

The judge pointed out that the body and head of the murder victim were covered in injuries, with at least 42 fresh injuries.

Lady Poole said Campbell's abuse of women started when he was a teenager and escalated over the years before culminating in the murder of Ms Fitzpatrick.

Campbell, formerly of Glenrothes, had denied murdering his partner on August 8 or 9, 2021 at Cable Road in the town by repeatedly striking her on the head and body with a tyre iron, but was unanimously found guilty by a jury. He was also convicted of a further 13 charges, including rape, assault and abusive behaviour towards women between 2004 and 2021 in Glenrothes, Leven and Kirkcaldy.

Lady Poole pointed out that some victims were assaulted to the danger of life and others were left with permanent marks. She pointed out that one victim, who was still a teenager with a new baby, had moved to a new country where she did not speak the language as she got away from him.

The judge previously told Campbell that his behaviour had devastated lives and the evidence at his trial was "harrowing and shocking to listen to". She commended the courage shown by victims who gave evidence of their treatment at his hands.

Advocate depute Chris Jones told the court that Campbell had "an obsession with infidelity" and accused women of cheating on him. Before murdering Ms Fitzpatrick he subjected her to an abusive course of conduct over an 11 month period between September 2020 and August 2021.

During it he isolated her from family and friends, threatened her, monitored her movements and her social media accounts and damaged mobile phones.

Before the murder she went to the Victoria Hospital, in Kirkcaldy, after being sick and unsteady on her feet following a head injury. Staff were told she hit her head after Campbell had to brake suddenly in the car. No evidence of emergency braking was found on the vehicle's tyres.

Campbell said that after they left hospital they went to an industrial estate in Glenrothes, but she fell and banged her head. He claimed he tried to stem the bleeding and they fell asleep in the car.

He said when he first awoke it was dark and Ms Fitzpatrick was alright at that time. He said: "I looked. She was sleeping. I could hear her."

He then claimed that he fell asleep again and awoke to find the victim dead and his car door open. He told the court: "Jane was gone."

He drove off but was found by police sitting in the driver's seat with his head down. He appeared to have blood on his trousers and fingernails. A tyre iron was recovered from the Citroen car which was used to inflict repeated blows to the victim.

One former partner of Campbell told the court that she referred to him as "a stoner" because of his drug abuse. She said that during a confrontation Campbell grabbed an iron and hit her forcefully in the face with the makeshift weapon.

Another woman said that she was thrown down a flight of stairs by him and kicked in the stomach when she was pregnant. Campbell also tried to force drugs into her mouth and forced raw meat into her mouth.

Defence counsel Brian McConnachie KC, for Campbell, said: "He maintains that he did not commit the offences in respect of which the jury convicted him. It seems to be the case that he grew up in an environment where domestic abuse was very much the done thing."

Campbell was placed on the sex offenders' register indefinitely. Non-harassment orders were made prohibiting him contacting or attempting to contact survivors of the abuse.