This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-24173669
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Bill Walker jailed for 12 months for domestic abuse | Bill Walker jailed for 12 months for domestic abuse |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| A former MSP has been jailed for 12 months after being convicted of a series of domestic abuse offences. | A former MSP has been jailed for 12 months after being convicted of a series of domestic abuse offences. |
| Bill Walker was found guilty of attacking three former wives and a step-daughter between 1967 and 1995. | |
| The 71-year-old, from Alloa, had denied 23 charges of assault and one breach of the peace, but was found guilty of all charges at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. | The 71-year-old, from Alloa, had denied 23 charges of assault and one breach of the peace, but was found guilty of all charges at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. |
| Sheriff Kathrine Mackie said the former independent MSP for Dunfermline was in "extreme denial". | |
| She said he had shown a pattern of abusive behaviour in intimate relationships over a 28-year period. | |
| She said Walker had shown no acknowledgement of his "unacceptable behaviour", and that she was unable to detect any remorse. | |
| Walker resigned as an MSP earlier this month, blaming a "media onslaught". | |
| More than half of Scotland's 129 MSPs had backed a motion calling for him to stand down. | |
| Wedding day | |
| Walker was found guilty of assault at addresses in Edinburgh, Stirling, Midlothian and Alloa, and one charge of breaching the peace. | |
| Sheriff Mackie, who heard the case without a jury, found Walker guilty of assaulting his first wife Maureen Traquair on three separate occasions in the 1960s and 1980s. | |
| On one occasion, he punched her in the face in the run-up to their wedding day in January 1967, giving her a black eye. | |
| The MSP was further found to have assaulted his second wife Anne Gruber 15 times at various addresses in Edinburgh and Midlothian between 1978 and 1984. | |
| He was also convicted of committing a breach of the peace by brandishing an air rifle at her house. | |
| The politician was convicted of four assaults on his third wife Diana Walker, three of which involved slapping or punching her on the face. The attacks happened between June 1988 and January 1995. | |
| Walker was also found guilty of assaulting Mrs Gruber's daughter Anne Louise Paterson by repeatedly striking her on the head with a saucepan in 1978, injuring her. | |
| He claimed he acted in self-defence after being assaulted by his stepdaughter, who was then 16. | |
| The MSP's behaviour was described by the prosecution as being "violent, domineering, controlling and relentless" over decades. | |
| He was said to have engaged in "systematic physical and emotional abuse" towards the women over a prolonged period of time. |