A spurned lover entered his former partner’s home and scratched her face out of her photos with a knife, a court has been told.
William Bradley Lindsay, 29, scored and slashed the pictures, poured oil over her bed and then stabbed the large kitchen knife through a door.
The rampage happened after he told her he had left the gas cooker on at her house and then threatened to blow it up.
Lindsay, of Benedict Road, Arbroath, pleaded guilty to a string of charges at the town’s sheriff court, which all took place on the same day he was dumped.
Depute fiscal Hazel Anderson said the couple had been together for 18 months but were having problems prior to the incident.
Lindsay’s partner had gone away but returned on December 29 and he was waiting at the train station for her in his car.
She told him he could get his belongings and asked him to return his key, but he refused and drove away.
Lindsay made around 40 calls to her mobile phone within six hours and sent repeated text messages.
She rushed back home when he told her he had left the gas cooker on and threatened to blow up her house.
Ms Anderson said: “When she arrived she realised he had been in the house. There was oil poured all over the bed and a quantity of photos throughout the house had been scored and slashed.
“He had scratched her face out of all of the photos. He had also stabbed a large kitchen knife through one of the internal doors.
“She contacted the police. They found her in a very distressed state.”
Solicitor Sandra Sutherland said her client was upset at the ending of the relationship.
She added: “He understands he could well have ended up in prison.”
Sheriff Gregor Murray imposed a community payback order for a year, with a requirement to undertake 175 hours of unpaid work.
He described Lindsay’s actions as “idiotic, stupid and dangerous”, but spared him jail.
The sheriff told him: “This is bordering on as serious as it gets. It’s only your early plea and your relative lack of a record that allows me to deal with this without custody.”