A 'FOOLISH' man tried to jump out of his ex's car as she was driving along a main road – after finding messages from her new partner on her phone.

Peter Martin, 36, had been in an "on-off" relationship with the woman for five months, but both had begun new relationships.

They had, however, hoped to go to one last concert together, Stirling Sheriff Court was told.

But on the day of the gig they called off their plans because of "tensions" caused by their parting, and the complainer agreed to give Martin a lift home from Tullibody to his house in Denny.

As she was driving along the A91 west of Menstrie, Martin picked up her mobile phone, which was being used to play media.

Mrs Lindsey Brooks, prosecuting, said: "The accused was listening to messages between the witness and another man. On hearing them he opened the passenger door and attempted to exit while the car was being driven.

"She was extremely fearful and brought the car to a stop on the grass verge.

"The accused leapt out, still in possession of the mobile phone, and threw it into a field

"He then leaned into the vehicle and started to call [her] a wh**e and a s**t.

"He grabbed the car keys from the ignition and threw those into the field as well and started to walk off."

The woman could not find her keys but did manage to find her phone and rang police from the roadside "in a distressed state".

Police attended immediately and found Martin walking along the verge. He was arrested and taken to Falkirk Police Station, where he told police after caution: "We both said stuff."

Officers found a bag in his pocket containing £50 worth of cocaine.

The incident occurred on November 22 last year, with Martin, of Milton Row, later pleading guilty to statutory breach of the peace and possession of the cocaine.

Solicitor Virgil Crawford, defending, said that by the time of the offence, both parties were in new relationships, but had still planned that day to go to a concert together in Aberdeen, as they had arranged sometime before.

Those plans changed, however, and Martin asked the complainer to give him a lift home, which she began to do.

Mr Crawford said: "Unfortunately, the discussion of their new relationships, which had caused tension between them, then carried on to the extent that Mr Martin wished to be let out of the car.

"[She] wasn't going to let him out of the car at that point, and that then led to his behaviour when the car slowed down – foolish to say the least."

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson placed Martin under social work supervision for two years, and ordered him to attend a domestic abuse harm reduction programme.