A PROSTITUTE who was the victim of a hammer attack by a former sheriff court security guard has been found dead in her home after an unrelated incident.
Police confirmed the body of a 29-year-old woman had been discovered in a multi-storey flat in Lochee on December 15.
It is believed that she died of a drugs overdose.
While police did not name the woman, local sources said she was Louise Knight, who had been attacked by 53-year-old Daniel Irvine on October 11 2011.
Ms Knight had been left permanently disfigured by the blow in her flat after an argument between the two.
Irvine was jailed for two years for the assault.
A spokesperson for Tayside Police said: “Tayside Police attended at an address in Burnside Court, Dundee, on Saturday December 15, following a report of the sudden death of a 29-year-old woman.
“There are no apparent suspicious circumstances and, as with all sudden deaths, a report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal.”
Irvine, of Ogilvie Street, Dundee, had also admitted to sending a string of threatening text messages to his ex-wife in an eight-month campaign of abuse.
The court was told Irvine had befriended the prostitute, whom he had previously known through his work at the sheriff court.
Irvine, a father-of-one, had received Ms Knight’s phone number and began talking to her by phone and meeting her.
The court was told he eventually wanted to “rescue” her from her life.
Depute fiscal Ross Cargill had told the court: “She previously knew him as a security guard employed at Dundee Sheriff Court.
“He approached her and advised he didn’t want her services as a prostitute, but asked for her phone number. They were in regular contact from then.”
The court was told that on October 31 she answered the door of her flat expecting to see her boyfriend, but it was Irvine in the common close.
He entered and a discussion about her not entering a relationship with him ensued and became heated, following which he struck her with a hammer.
The court was told that she sustained a one-inch Y-shaped laceration to her head that will leave permanent scarring.
Irvine pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman on October 31, striking her on the head with a hammer to her injury and permanent disfigurement.
He further admitted that, between January 1 2011 and August 26 2011, he sent abusive and threatening text messages to his ex-wife.
Sheriff Richard Davidson jailed Irvine for two years for the hammer attack and imposed a further three months for sending the texts.
awilson@thecourier.co.uk