DANGEROUS FIFE PREDATOR JAMIE PRESTON FREED UNDER EARLY RELEASE RULES
A violent women beater who was jailed earlier this year for a 3 year campaign of horrendous domestic violence has been released from prison early thanks to overcrowding issues.Jamie Preston who once tried to kill a former partner by suffocating her has been jailed again after subjecting another woman to years of brutal beatings — including attacks while she was pregnant.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison after a court heard he carried out a prolonged campaign of violence and control against his partner across Fife.
In 2019, he was jailed for attempting to kill a former partner by suffocation and for breaching bail conditions.
He was also charged and stood trial for the rape of a child in 2010, and later charged with indecent exposure in 2015 — a history prosecutors said showed a deep-rooted pattern of serious offending.
Despite that record, Preston went on to terrorise another partner between May 2021 and January 2023, attacking her at addresses in Burntisland, Dunfermline, Rosyth and surrounding areas.
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court, prosecutor Catherine Stevenson told how the woman was punched, kicked and slapped every few days, often over trivial arguments such as household chores.
In one incident, Preston told her she “deserved to be hit” before punching her in the face.
The abuse became even more disturbing when the woman fell pregnant.
The court heard Preston kicked her stomach repeatedly and beat her with a wooden bed slat, showing what the sheriff later described as a complete disregard for human life.
In another incident, after returning home drunk, Preston proposed marriage with an engagement ring — only to return later from the pub in a rage, grabbing her wrist and trying to tear the ring from her finger.
The violence reached a breaking point in May 2023, when the victim reported that Preston had “beaten the living hell out of her”, leaving her barely able to move and suffering severe back pain.
Alongside the physical attacks, Preston exerted tight control over the woman’s life.
He bombarded her with calls, accessed her social media accounts, and messaged male friends ordering them to stay away — behaviour the court recognised as coercive and abusive.
When it came to sentencing, Sheriff Wylie Robertson imposed a four-year non-harassment order and jailed Preston for a year.
A social work report laid bare his mindset, describing him as lacking insight, minimising responsibility, and being in denial about the seriousness of his actions.
In a move that drew sharp attention, Preston attempted to shift blame away from himself, with his defence telling the court he had been beaten and neglected as a child by his mother.
His lawyer said this upbringing may have contributed to his behaviour — a claim raised even as the report noted his failure to take genuine responsibility.
The sheriff made clear that Preston’s background did not excuse his actions, particularly given his long and violent criminal history.
The case serves as another grim reminder of how serial domestic abusers escalate, repeat their violence across multiple relationships, and attempt to deflect blame — even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
