A brutal thug who dragged his partner from her car and stamped on her chest because she ran out of petrol has been handed an extended seven year prison sentence.
Michael Wilkie, 29, throttled Natalie Livingstone, 26, and told her he would kill her as he pinned her to the ground in a lay-by at the side of the A9.
Perth Sheriff Court was told it was one of three occasions he had endangered the life of his girlfriend with vicious and sustained attacks in just over a year.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: "This is an appalling catalogue of offending of a domestic nature. The photographs taken of Miss Livingstone are very distressing, to say the least.
"You have pled guilty to three charges of assaulting a person with whom you were in a relationship, causing injury and to the danger of her life."
He told Wilkie he would serve a five year prison sentence followed by a two year extended sentence upon his release, and imposed a six year non-harassment order.
Wilkie, Allison Crescent, Perth, admitted throwing Miss Livingstone against a wall and throttling her during a drink and drug fuelled attack on Christmas Day 2018.
He admitted dragging her from a car near Dalwhinnie, Perthshire, on 21 April 2019, pinning her to the ground and restricting her breathing before stamping on her chest. He admitted threatening to kill her during the same incident.
And he admitted throttling her again on February 2 last year before pinning her to a wall, throwing a glass bottle at her head, striking her head and body against furniture, and throwing a candle ornament at her head to her severe injury. All three assault charges were "to the danger of life."
Solicitor Pauline Cullerton told the court: "He was sickened by his actions and deeply ashamed of the offences he committed." She said the combination of alcohol and cocaine he had taken was "not a good mix."
Fiscal depute David Currie said the couple had been in a relationship since late 2017 and had been living together when they argued and fell out on Christmas Day.
"He picked up the complainer and threw her against a wall. She landed on a storage crate and struggled to get up," he said.
"The accused sat on top of her and placed his hands around her throat and squeezed and she was screaming at him to get off."
In the second incident, the couple were returning from a trip to Kinloch Laggan beach when they ran out of fuel in Highland Perthshire at 9pm.
"This caused an argument," the prosecutor said. "They pulled over in the lay-by. He suddenly leaned over, took her head in his hands and headbutted her.
"She was struggling to breathe. He dragged her about and threatened to kill her and throw her under the next car." When she was able to call her mother she was hysterical.
Wilkie had taken drink and drugs before the final attack in February last year, when his "controlling" behaviour led him becoming angry and calling Miss Livingstone a "slut."
Neighbours could hear her screaming as Wilkie banged her head off a futon and struck her leg off a coffee table as she desperately tried to fend him off.
"He seized a candle ornament and threw it at her, striking her on the head. This went on for 15 to 20 minutes. She ran upstairs to knock the door of a neighbour."
Sheriff Foulis told Wilkie the attacks would have merited being remitted to the High Court for sentence and imposed one, two and two year sentences to run consecutively.
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