A father-of-11 who brutally attacked a woman because he could not find a matching pair of socks was yesterday jailed for 38 months.
At the High Court in Glasgow Nathan Pulman, 42, admitted a catalogue of abuse against the 38-year-old woman across the north and north-east over a ten-year period.
Pulman attacked his victim in hospital in Elgin and told her to put her head in a noose he had made and kill herself, in just two examples of a decade of terror carried out in in Invergordon, Kinloch Rannoch, Inverness, Laurencekirk, Fyvie, Stonehaven, Forres, Elgin and Perth.
Yesterday, Judge Lord Matthews told Pulman: “You have pled guilty to a shocking catalogue of domestic abuse.
“Your victim has been physically and psychologically harmed. The best years of her life have been blighted.”
Lord Matthews told Pulman that the sentence would have been much higher, but for the fact he had already been jailed in Wales for offences against the same woman.
He added: “While in prison in Wales you took the opportunity to learn about the error of your ways.”
The woman described Pulman as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character and said he would regularly accuse her of lying and then become angrier when she denied this and assault her.
After the beatings he would buy her teddy bears and flowers, but after a short period the violence would start up again.
One of the attacks took place in Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin where the woman had been admitted for surgery.
Pulman seized her by the head, hair and body, and slapped, punched, and kicked her during the attacks.
Mr MacVicar added: “She was struck on the head and body with belts, shoes, a dog chain, household items and garden implements.
“Serious injuries including broken bones were inflicted and she is left with scars.”
The court heard that on one occasion she was made to sit in snow for a lengthy period while the accused shouted and swore at her. She was eventually let back in to make his evening meal.
Another time Pulman tied a rope to a beam and told her to put her head in the noose he had made and kill herself by stepping off a table. He then told her not to do it.
When his boots went missing Pulman blamed the woman and slapped her twice across the face and kicked her legs repeatedly.
In January 2006, he kicked away a chair she was standing on, and she broke both wrists in the fall.
Pulman admitted assaulting the woman to her permanent disfigurement.
His pleas of not guilty to other charges including sexually assaulting the woman were accepted by the Crown.
He also admitted assaulting two children.
Pulman was jailed for nine years in 2013 at Mold Crown Court in Wales for violence against women.