Director walks free despite a third assault on his partner
A SERIAL domestic abuser was spared jail again yesterday following his third assault conviction against the same woman.
Company director Alistair Langfield lashed out at Frances McQuade at their £400,000 detached home in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Langfield – who earns £95,000 a year running a radio voiceover company with 34year-old Miss McQuade – attacked her at their home in Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, around 3am on January 1.
Paisley Sheriff Court heard that a child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared to be upset, so Miss McQuade took him out of the room to speak to him.
Procurator fiscal depute Hazel Emmerson said: ‘A few seconds later, another child came out of the living room and Alistair Langfield came out behind him.
‘The accused immediately began accusing Frances McQuade of stopping him and the children from having fun.
‘He then slapped the complainer across the face in front of the 11-year-old child.’
The police were contacted and 37-year-old Langfield – who is also a director of another firm with assets of almost £1million and more than £500,000 in the bank – was found unconscious on the kitchen floor.
He pleaded guilty to assaulting Miss McQuade when he appeared in court the following day.
When he returned to court yesterday to be sentenced, his lawyer said he was ‘embarrassed’ by his conduct and was taking unusual steps to try to beat the bottle.
Solicitor advocate Robert Mitchell added: ‘He works in sales for a voiceover company – it’s fair to say this man has a significant income.
‘There is not an excuse for his behaviour but there is, of course, an explanation – and it’s a pretty common one. His partner was herself heavily under the influence.
‘The two of them have responded to this by taking the decision between them to remove alcohol completely from their lives.
‘He is taking a course of hypno- therapy. He is embarrassed to be here today.’
Mr Mitchell said the assault was ‘an escalation’ of Langfield’s criminal treatment of his partner, which had seen him receive two previous convictions for breach of the peace. He added that his client realised he had placed himself in ‘a precarious position’ and could be jailed for up to a year.
As he spared Langfield a prison sentence and placed him on a Community Payback Order as a direct alternative to custody, Sheriff Tom McCartney said: ‘There is no doubt that sending you to prison would
‘He is embarrassed to be here today’
have a devastating effect on your family.
‘Were that to happen, you have brought that on yourself.
‘I am pleased to hear about your decision to remove alcohol completely. That was clearly a very major factor in this and your previous offending as well.’
Sheriff McCartney ordered Lang- field to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work, reduced from 200 as he had admitted his guilt, over the next nine months.
He also told him he would be supervised by social workers for the next 18 months.
Langfield was warned that he had to make his unpaid work more important than his lucrative job.
The sheriff said: ‘You cannot prioritise your paid employment over your unpaid work.
‘You cannot simply choose when to do your unpaid work.’
As well as running scottishvoiceovers.com, Langfield has been a director of a firm called Matinee Sound and Vision Limited since May 2013.
Company records show the firm, which is registered to an address in Reading, Berkshire, has more than £577,000 in the bank and assets worth £996,000.