A COURT has heard of a county man’s violent behaviour against two former partners, including grabbing each of them by the throat and restricting their breathing.

Dale McMillan first engaged in a course of aggressive behaviour which was abusive of his partner at an address at Corstorphine in Edinburgh between June 1, 2020, and March 25, 2022.

During the relationship, McMillan repeatedly attacked the woman by punching her to the head and body and, on one occasion, he forced her to the floor and refused to allow her to get up for a protracted length of time.

He also held a glass to her throat and threatened to kill her, and, during a separate incident, he seized her by the throat and compressed her neck, restricting her breathing.

After he had been reported to the police, McMillan then demanded the woman withdraw her statements and also offered her money not to come to court and give evidence against him.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was also told of a second relationship McMillan had with a second victim where he carried out abusive conduct against her at an address in Duns between October 1, 2022, and September 13 last year.

During this time, the 29-year-old repeatedly uttered threats of violence towards the woman and assaulted her by repeatedly striking her to the head and body.

He also seized the victim by the neck, pushed her on the body and refused to leave her home when she requested him to do so.

The court was told of one particularly violent incident that saw McMillan force the woman onto a bed, sit astride her and restrict her movements.

He then forcibly compressed the woman’s neck with both his hands and restricted her breathing.

The abuse continued by McMillan taking money from the woman’s bank account without her consent and repeatedly breaching his bail conditions by demanding she meet up with him.

McMillan, whose address was only given as Musselburgh, also repeatedly attempted to induce the woman to not give evidence against him in court and he also coached her on how this could be done.

All the assaults were said to be to the woman’s injury and to the danger to her life.

McMillan appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court from custody on April 11, where he pleaded guilty to two amended charges contrary to the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2016 Section 1.

Sheriff Alistair Noble remanded him in custody and deferred sentence to Monday.

When the case called, Sheriff Noble was told that a supplementary social work report was still needed to be presented to the court before McMillan could be sentenced.

Lawyer Stephen Mannifield said that his client was currently on remand in HMP Perth and had met with the social work team last week but the report was still not available to the courts.

Sheriff Noble agreed to defer sentence further to May 15 for the report to finalised and continued McMillan’s remand period.