SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Lord Scott made the following remarks in court:

"You have been found guilty of a single charge involving engaging in a course of behaviour which was abusive, over a period of approximately 2 and a half years.  The abusive behaviour, which included violence and sexual violence, was coercive and controlling.

You also pled guilty to charges 7, 8, 9 and 12, having offered to plead guilty to charges 8 and 9 at the preliminary hearing on 12 July 2024.

It is well known that the consequences of serious sexual offending and domestic abuse for victims or survivors can be significant and lifelong. 

In this case, there is a victim impact statement which describes in detail the consequences and impacts for her.  She describes the continuing daily effects of what you did to her, including that the stress and anxiety you have caused her have exacerbated her chronic medical condition, fibromyalgia. She describes immense emotional and psychological damage and PTSD. Despite what happened being your responsibility, she feels guilt due to not leaving you sooner for her own sake and that of her sons. She suffers depression, anxiety and panic attacks, relying on medication and counselling to help her, even though therapy requires that she unlock troubling, repressed memories to try to process them. She finds social situations very difficult and has trouble sleeping. In effect, she has had to try to start life over again. Your failure to appear at court caused her additional stress, financial difficulties and a heightened sense of loss of control.

Before passing sentence, I asked for a justice social work report with a detailed risk assessment.  You have not previously been sentenced to imprisonment and imprisonment is obviously necessary in view of the gravity of your offending, so I ordered the report with a detailed risk assessment with a view to considering whether it was appropriate or necessary to impose an extended sentence to address any risk of serious harm to the public.

I note that you maintained the same position in interview with the author of the justice social work report as you did in your evidence, that is that you maintain your innocence of the serious sexual aspects of charge 6 although you accept responsibility for some violence and abusive behaviour.  You have indulged in victim-blaming to try to explain some of what you did and sought to justify your fire-raising with an unconvincing claim of trying to protect one of them.

The report says this about your attitude and insight:

 ‘This view from Mr Stott somewhat diminishes his personal responsibility for the domestic abusive he has perpetrated over several years. Ultimately, Mr Stott has perpetrated domestically abusive, sexually harmful, controlling, and coercive behaviours and while his circumstances at the time may have been difficult, he requires to fully explore and address how he copes with negative emotions in intimate relationships. Mr Stott evidence maladaptive coping strategies in times of stress and would benefit from a structured program to address his behaviour.’

The detailed risk assessment states:

‘Mr Stott scored minimum on the LSI-R: SV risk/need assessment tool due to being a second time offender without significant history. However, he scores high in the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment tool due to extended and serious nature of his abusive behaviour. It is further assessed he presents a risk of serious harm. … it is clear he would benefit from structured programmatic work. He denies the serious convictions against him and evidences a somewhat distorted view that his relationship was “strong”. These views could be further explored should he be made subject to the Men’s Domestic Abuse Caledonian Programme. However, at this time he is considered a ‘high’ risk of reoffending within the next 2-years should he enter into a relationship and not address his criminogenic needs.’

The Spousal Assault Risk Assessment tool explored various aspects regarding you and your behaviour to produce the assessment that you pose a high risk of similar re-offending.

I note from the report that you have previously suffered with anxiety and low mood for which you received a prescription for a period of time, although you now feel better and no longer require it.

I note what is said about your use of cocaine and alcohol in the report as well as your own evidence about this at trial. Addiction issues may well be part of the reason you are here but they are no excuse.

Mr McSporran has explained, in relation to your failure to attend court, that the indictment was served on your agents and this caused some confusion. It delayed the case only by a few months but he recognised that a consecutive sentence was necessary to mark the offence. He said that you continued to work and abide by bail conditions in the meantime.

The report concludes by raising the possibility of an extended sentence.

On the jury’s verdict, you have minimised and lied.  You have failed to acknowledge your appalling behaviour in a serious, comprehensive or meaningful way.  You have therefore shown only limited remorse.  You have displayed no real insight into how or why you behaved as you did or the considerable damage that you have caused to your victims.  You have shown little victim empathy. 

You are 42 years old.  You have only 3 previous convictions, although, significantly, these include one in 2012 where against the same victim. 

I have read the character reference provided by Mr Bull, your former colleague. It confirms some of what Mr McSporran said today about there being different sides to you which include a strong work ethic.

The question of serious risk of harm to the public is clear from the indictment, that previous conviction and the risk assessment in the JSWR.  The pattern of serious offending is long-standing and entrenched and, in the absence of insight or meaningful acknowledgement, likely to remain so.

I have considered all that is said in the justice social work report, the character reference and all that has been carefully said today by Mr McSporran.  He has said all that can be said on your behalf.  In particular, he has emphasised that you have always accepted your guilt for some of your violent and abusive behaviour and even offered to plead guilty to that. That offers some basis for the beginnings of work to address the attitudes and behaviours which have brought you here. He says that you are willing to engage in work which may help you understand how you have behaved and how to avoid it in the future.  The sentence I impose will allow enough time for you to do so before you are released and it is in your interests as well as the public interest, especially as regards future partners, that you do so.

Having regard to the whole circumstances of the case, and as rightly acknowledged by Mr McSporran, only a custodial sentence is appropriate.  It is necessary to punish you and to seek to deter you and others from behaving in this way and to protect the public from you.

Having reflected carefully on all of the circumstances, in particular the serious nature of charge 6, your analogous previous conviction, the clearly established and entrenched abusive behaviour and the insights in the justice social work report, in my judgement the normal period of licence would not be enough to protect the public from serious harm from you.  Accordingly I consider that the custodial sentence in your case should be by way of an extended sentence.  Again, the need for such a sentence is rightly acknowledged by Mr McSporran.

Charge 6 carries a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment. It is clearly the most serious charge on the indictment.

Charge 7 carries a maximum sentence of 5 years.

Charges 8 and 9 carry maximum sentences of life imprisonment although, while serious, they are not at the upper end of the range of gravity for such offences.

Indeed, even taken together, charges 7, 8 and 9 are unlikely to have brought you to the High Court.

Charge 12 carries a maximum sentence of 5 years. It is particularly serious as it involves a failure to appear at the High Court with all the additional delay and anxiety that causes to victims and witnesses.

In the circumstances, I impose the following sentences:

On charge 12, I impose a sentence of 18 months imprisonment. There is no discount given the timing of the plea which came at the trial. That charge involves an entirely distinct offence and therefore it will be served before the other sentences I impose. It will date from 27 February 2024.

On charge 6, I impose an extended sentence of 12 years. As I have just said, that extended sentence will be served consecutively to the sentence on charge 12, meaning that it starts only after that sentence has been served.

The length of the custodial term of that extended sentence is 9 years with a 3 year extension period for the duration of which you will be under licence on conditions fixed by the Scottish Ministers. If, during this extension period, you fail to comply with the conditions of your licence it may be revoked by the Scottish Ministers and you may be returned to custody for a further period.

On charge 7, I impose a sentence of 12 months imprisonment, again without discount due to the plea coming only at the trial.

On charge 8, I impose a sentence of 6 months imprisonment reduced from 8 months for the plea of guilty offered at the preliminary hearing.

On charge 9, I impose a sentence of 18 months imprisonment reduced from 2 years for the plea of guilty offered at the preliminary hearing.

Although these crimes involved separate decisions by you, they can be seen as simply another aspect of your controlling, coercive, threatening and abusive behaviour.  I will therefore order that the sentences on those charges will run concurrently with each other and with the extended sentence on charge 6.

As a consequence of this sentence, you will be subject to notification requirements indefinitely.

In addition, I must consider whether to make a non‑harassment order in relation to your victims.  I will make such an order in relation to your direct victims.

The conditions of that order are as follows:

That you must not approach, contact, communicate directly or indirectly or attempt to approach, contact or communicate with them.  The order will be for an indeterminate period and will commence today.

I have also been asked to make such an order in respect of your son until his 18th birthday the same conditions will apply.