A violent thug who assaulted three women over a dozen years in the Dundee area has been jailed for four years.
Cowardly Christopher Carswell was convicted of a string of assaults on the females following a trial last month at the High Court in Aberdeen.
The court heard the 31 year-old’s first attacks took place between November 2002 and July 2003.
Over an eight-month period, he assaulted Siobhan Matthew at two separate addresses.
One one occasion, he restricted his victim’s breathing by compressing her throat.
He then pinned her arms above her head and wrapped his legs around her body at a flat in Carnegie Tower in Dundee’s Alexander Street.
Carswell then struck Ms Matthew on the face with the back of his hand at an address in the city’s Jamaica Square in 2003.
He then carried out assaults on a further two women in 2006 and 2013.
He was found not guilty of one allegation of assault.
Jurors returned a not proven verdict to a rape charge.
A further two charges of alleged sexual intercourse with a teenager and another separate incident of allegedly assaulting a woman were withdrawn.
During the trial in Aberdeen the court heard Carswell carried out a series of offences against the three women. Three years after the last attack on Ms Matthew, he assaulted another woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The court heard he seized hold of her throat at a flat in Balmullo Square, Douglas.
Then, in 2013, he assaulted Kelly Anne Hunter by pushing her against a wall, placing his hands around her neck, restricting her breathing.
He slapped and spat in the face of the same woman in April of that year.
A month later, he again spat on the face of Ms Hunter.
Carswell, described in court as a prisoner at Perth, was found guilty of the charges after the jury deliberated for more than a day.
On Tuesday, defence solicitor advocate Chris Fyffe told the court that his client had a troubled childhood.
The court heard that Carswell had been physically abused as a youngster and had taken drugs. Doctors also diagnosed him with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Mr Fyffe said his client had expressed some remorse for his actions.
He added: “He feels ashamed and disgusted at some of his behaviour.”
Passing sentence, judge Lord Beckett also ordered Carswell to be supervised by the authorities for four years following his release from prison.
