Rosyth man jailed for flouting court order to drink with former partner

Craig Daley, 45, of Findlay Street, appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

He had previously admitted breaching a non-harassment order banning him from contacting his former partner or entering her home in Dunfermline on November 10.

Depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf told the court that police had attended the house on another matter. Both the accused and the complainer had been drinking heavily and it transpired there was a non- harassment order in place.

Solicitor David McLaughlin acknowledged his client had been offered opportunities by the court on a number of occasions and was on five community payback orders.

"He is aware of the situation he has put himself in," he said. "He seems to appreciate he has issues which he needs to deal with, particularly in relation to domestic partners. He would wish to continue with that.

"He is someone who contributed very well to society until about two years ago. It is a bit of a tragic story that he has gone completely off the rails. This is not a non-harassment order where he has turned up and threatened this woman. He has gone round there and I understand it to be at the will of the complainer."

Sheriff Alastair Brown said it was a serious breach. "The sheriff who imposed the non-harassment order, like every other sheriff who sits on this bench, has a duty to do the right thing in accordance to the law," he said.

"We do not simply do what we think is right. That would be to impose our values and our moral compass upon others and that is not what we hold office to do. Where the parliament has laid down rules, we have a duty to apply them.

"You have no grounds for complaint about the making of the order. You breached it. You did so deliberately. That is serious.

"You are on five community payback orders which have not worked in your case. I can see nothing other than a prison sentence."

He jailed Daley for six months, backdated to November 11.