A violent thug who crushed his mother’s face into the ground with his foot has been given a last chance to avoid prison.
Christian Stanford was found guilty of a savage attack on his mother in her garden at Scone.
A neighbour told how she felt “sickened” when she found the woman lying outside her home, screaming for help, with her face so swollen her eyes were like slits.
Stanford, 26, had denied the attack, blaming the family dog for his mum’s horrific injuries but he was convicted after a sheriff dismissed his evidence as “almost wholly incredible and unreliable.”
A year earlier, Stanford attacked his mum in her living room, biting into her head so hard he left teeth marks.
He was due to be sentenced for both assaults – as well as an attack on the neighbour who went to his mother’s aid – when he appeared at Perth Sheriff Court his week.
But Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC was unimpressed with a pre-sentencing report, which suggested Stanford had “little empathy and thought for other people”.
Custody warning
The sheriff told the accused: “The terms of the criminal justice social work report portrays you in a very unfavourable light.
“That seems to be a consequence of you failing to engage with the social worker properly – that really is to your detriment.”
The sheriff said: “I will give you a piece of advice – you are getting an opportunity to re-engage and you would do well to engage properly and answer all the questions, no matter how difficult they may be.”
Stanford was told if he complies, he could receive a community payback order.
“Otherwise, I have to say that custody is at the forefront of my mind,” said Sheriff Bain.
She said the court will also consider ways to protect Stanford’s mother “from the violent and aggressive behaviour that she has had to withstand”.
Sentence was deferred until November.
Screams heard by neighbours
The trial heard how Stanford attacked his mother at her garden gate on July 9 2023.
He knocked her down and ground her face into the gravel path with his foot.
Stanford then kicked her so hard the noise of her screams could be heard from neighbours across the cul-de-sac.
The court heard the accused’s mother had been “torn” about giving evidence against her son but she told the trial he had been “the worst she had ever seen him” when he turned up at her home.
She repeatedly denied the injuries were caused by her Labrador-springer cross tripping her and jumping on her face, as her son had claimed.
The court was earlier told how he sank his teeth into his mother’s head in a separate attack on August 17 2022.
When Stanford pled guilty to that attack, he said: “Me and my mum have a lot of issues going back to childhood.”
He added: “Our relationship is okay and we speak on good terms.”
Sentence was initially deferred for six months to give Stanford the chance to prove it was a “one-off incident”.
‘Little empathy’ for others
Solicitor Jamie Baxter, defending, said: “Mr Stanford has had a number of issues all of his life.
“He certainly presents to people as being ambivalent with little empathy and thought for other people.
“That is reflected in the report but I would ask the court to take account of the history that this young man has had.”
He said his client has oppositional defiant disorder and ADHD but successfully completed the Right Track rehabilitation programme for young offenders.
“Whilst it’s suggested that this is someone who does not give a monkeys about his actions, that it is not the same individual that I speak with,” said Mr Baxter.
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