A Crieff man dubbed a “domestic abuse demon” hurled his pregnant girlfriend’s cat at a wall and shoved her face into a soiled litter tray during a campaign of violence that spanned nearly two decades.
Kevin McLaren, a former groundskeeper at a Perthshire estate, repeatedly attacked two of his former partners and their pets.
His victims told a trial at Perth Sheriff Court how they feared he would kill them.
McLaren, 38, was found guilty on Friday of eight assaults dating back to 2005, as well as a charge of engaging in a course of abusive behaviour against one of the women.
Prosecutors described him as a “demon” who became “possessed” when he drank alcohol.
McLaren even named his abusive persona ‘Bob’.
Jurors rejected his unfounded claims that the women were lying, and that he had acted in self defence when they attacked him.
Attacked pregnant partner
The jury took just under an hour to find him unanimously guilty. One charge, relating to an alleged assault on a third women in 2002, was found not proven.
Sheriff William Wood told McLaren: “It is clear from your previous convictions that this isn’t the only time you have abused your partners or ex-partners.
“Because of that I have great concerns about protecting the public should you remain at liberty and free to explore other relationships.”
McLaren was remanded in custody while he awaits sentence on June 14.
Fiscal depute Michael Sweeney told the court: “In text messages to his girlfriend, Mr McLaren spoke about having his demons – but he also behaved like one.
“He became possessed when he drank and transformed into this domestic abuse demon.”
The court heard how McLaren twice attacked his girlfriend at their flat in Perth’s Cow Vennel between April and October 2005.
He assaulted her again while she was pregnant, and threw hot takeaway food over her.
McLaren then grabbed her and pushed her face into her cat’s soiled litter tray.
The woman told the trial that on another occasion, he hunted around the property for the cat.
He pulled it from underneath a bed and launched it across the room, where it struck the wall.
McLaren then grabbed his pregnant partner by the hair and dragged her through the flat. He repeatedly struck her head against a wall and threw her backwards, smacking her head off a radiator.
He then throttled her and kicked her in the stomach, as she lay on the ground.
In another attack, he tried to pull her fingernails off with his teeth.
‘I thought he was going to kill me’
His second victim told the court that they lived and worked together on the sprawling Lawers Estate, near Comrie.
The 30-year-old, who worked in the stables at the time, said the relationship was okay to begin with, “but there were alarm bells I should have picked up on”.
On Christmas Day 2018, the pair went out for a drink and a family meal.
But McLaren’s demeanour changed in the taxi home.
“He was silent,” she said. “You could see the anger in his face. It made me nervous.”
She said that once back home she “anticipated” an outburst from her partner, so decided to sleep in another room.
“I tried to take the TV out of the living room,” she said.
“Mr McLaren then came up and grabbed me.
“He said he thought I was going to do something to his Playstation console.
“That made me drop the TV.”
She stumbled backwards and fell onto a wood burning stove, injuring her shoulder.
The woman sobbed as she told the trial: “I tried to pull myself back up, and Mr McLaren took me by the throat with both hands.
“He marched me across the living room. He was using a lot of force.”
McLaren pushed her backwards onto a sofa, throttled her and said: “I’ll show you.”
The woman told the trial: “I thought he was going to kill me.
“I told him to get off me, but he just kept going.”
She managed to kick him away and made a run for her dog, Kaya.
“I tried to scramble to the hallway but he caught me,” she said. “I didn’t even take a full step.”
Said dog should be ‘put down’
McLaren grabbed her by the clothes and swung her round, until her head struck a wall.
“The next thing I remember was waking up on the floor, bleeding from the head,” she said.
“Kevin was sleeping in the room next door. I could hear him snoring.”
Later that morning, McLaren approached her and asked her what had happened?
She replied: “Don’t act like you don’t know.”
Asked by Mr Sweeney about how McLaren treated her Staffordshire Bull Terrier, she broke down and said: “He hit her with a chain lead and told me she should be put down.”
Even after she ended the relationship, McLaren continued to bombard her with text and social media messages.
Evil Bob
The trial heard that McLaren’s drunken persona was known as “Bob,” echoing the name of the evil possessive spirit in iconic TV drama Twin Peaks.
McLaren, of Grampian Court, tried to convince the jury that he was the victim and had been trying to protect himself from his partners’ attacks.
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said McLaren suffered a “freak accident” at home in 2020 and is unable to work.
