A SAUCHIE man has been locked up over a "quite horrific" attack on his former partner.

Ian Brand, 30, clamped his teeth onto the woman's nose and wouldn't let go, after flying into a rage over a mislaid wallet.

The abuser left the complainer, the mother of his four children, with multiple injuries after a prolonged assault.

Brand had been unable to find his wallet when he was leaving the woman's flat in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire.

A court heard the couple, who had been together for several years during which time he had abused her before, had split up three months earlier.

Brand started to blame her for "hiding" the wallet, even though she begged that this was not the case.

He then threatened her, screaming: "I'm going to kill you, I'm going to strangle the life out of you."

Prosecutor Michael Maguire said: "He approached her as she sat on a bed, grabbing onto the tip of her nose with his teeth with such pressure that she could not remove him.

"She was screaming for him to let her go.

"He released his teeth and grabbed her by the hair, dragging her from the bed onto the floor and into the hallway, causing carpet burns and scratches to her elbows."

He then dragged her, still by the hair, into the kitchen, where he punched her five times in the face.

The prosecutor added: "[She] believed he did this to keep her from the window, as she was shouting for help."

Terrified, the woman ran back into the bedroom but Brand followed.

Mr Maguire said: "There he pushed her to the ground before placing his knee on her back and grabbing her throat from behind and choking her."

However, the woman's screams had been heard by neighbours, including a man who was in his back garden next door in Westbourne Avenue, where the incident occurred around 8.15pm on May 16, 2020.

Mr Maguire said the neighbour "had become aware of a female shouting for help at the window and then being dragged away by a person's arm".

Together with another neighbour, he ran to the door and began knocking.

The woman managed to break free and open the door, and Brand was separated from her.

Mr Maguire said that the neighbour could see "fresh injuries" on the woman's face.

Police arrived and Brand was arrested.

He told the officers: "I tried to leave the house, and this is the way she reacted."

The complainer was found to have carpet burns, cuts to both elbows, and bruising and swelling, including to the left side of her head.

Brand, of Sauchie, appeared for sentence at Falkirk Sheriff Court by video link from Low Moss Prison, having pleaded guilty in January, 2021, to causing injury by domestically-aggravated assault.

Imposing the two-year jail term, Sheriff Derek Hamilton told Brand that what made the matter even worse was that he had done things to try to prevent the woman from getting help during the attack.

He said: "This was a quite horrific assault."

Brand was also made subject to a non-harassment order, preventing him from approaching or contacting his former partner for three years.

The court heard that Brand had six previous convictions for violence, including three that were domestically-aggravated.