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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Rory Cassidy

Angry pensioner trashes ex's home with rotting fish and garlic when she dumps him

A spurned OAP trashed his ex's home when she dumped him.

Douglas Trotter burned "scum" and "thief" into her garden, hid rotting fish and garlic her house and loosened furniture screws.

The 66-year-old was raging when Joyce Tasker, 43, ended their relationship and temporarily moved out of her Newton Mearns home, the Daily Record reports.

He was found guilty at Paisley Sheriff Court this week after a sheriff ruled there was "overwhelming circumstantial evidence" against him.

Trotter also daubed insults on different parts of the house and hid a bowl of unknown clear liquid inside her oven.

Defence solicitor Kirsty McGeehan said her client admitted shouting and swearing at Ms Tasker following their split.

But the lawyer said there was "no direct evidence" he was responsible for any of the other acts of vandalism.

She said the victim did not know when he had moved out of the property and that nobody had seen him committing any of the offences.

But Sheriff Brian Mohan convicted him of a domestic abuse charge of trashing the house in Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, between November 2020 and February 2021.

He found him guilty of breaching Section 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 by engaging in a course of conduct which was abusive of his ex-partner.

The sheriff said: "This was a separation which clearly became acrimonious.

"The complainer received a phone call or a number of phone calls after she left and you reacted to that by swearing and making various threats to burn down the house and get rid of her clothes.

"I am satisfied there's overwhelming circumstantial evidence you committed these offences.

"There was limited access to this property - only three people had access, Miss Tasker, her son, and you.

"There was no one else but you living in the property after the separation.

"There was rotting fish, or salmon, left in the loft which was identified as coming from the freezer.

"This was a kind of targeted revenge.

"She was the tenant and you had no right to continue living there.

"It's quite apparent this was designed to make life difficult for anyone who was to stay in the property after you left."

He said the tampering with the furniture "presents an obvious and quite apparent danger" and "takes matters to a different level".

He called for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing and continued bail.

Trotter, of Giffnock, will be sentenced next month.

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