Disgraced former MSP Bill Walker has been jailed for 12 months for a string of attacks against his three former wives and a stepdaughter that spanned decades
Walker, of Alloa in Clackmannanshire, was convicted of 23 charges of domestic abuse and one breach of the peace last month after a two-week trial.
The 71-year-old, who clung to his Dunfermline seat for 16 days after the verdict, returned to Edinburgh Sheriff Court where he was sentenced by Sheriff Kathrine Mackie.
Sheriff Mackie found Walker guilty of assaulting his first wife MaureenTraquair on three separate occasions in the 1960s and 1980s. On one occasion hepunched her in the face, giving her a black eye two weeks before they married inJanuary 1967.
Ms Traquair told the court she had to buy concealer to hide the bruise on the couple’s wedding day.
Walker was convicted of assaulting his second wife, Anne Gruber, 15 times between 1978 and 1984.
On various occasions Mrs Gruber was punched, slapped, kicked and pushed to the ground. Walker spat on her face, threw household items at her, threatened to pour hot coffee over her and pulled her hair.
He also breached the peace by leaping into Mrs Gruber’s home brandishing an air rifle after she went out for a birthday meal with another man.
Walker was also found guilty of assaulting and injuring Mrs Gruber’s 16-year-old daughter, Anne Louise Paterson, by repeatedly striking her on the head with a saucepan in 1978.
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