GLASGOW MAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS FOR DECADES OF BRUTAL DOMESTIC ABUSE
A man identified as Joseph Loughran, aged 51, has been sentenced to a 15-year extended jail term for committing a series of brutal attacks on five women across Glasgow spanning a period of 29 years.Loughran pleaded guilty to assaulting the victims to the danger of life, a charge reduced from attempted murder.
During the sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh, it was revealed that the offenses occurred between January 1980 and December 2009.
Glasgow prosecutors described this case as one of the most severe examples of domestic abuse they have ever encountered.
The court detailed Loughran's long history of violence, including assaults on Janice Allan over 12 years involving hitting her with an air rifle, brandishing a bow and arrow, and using a fish spear implement.
He also attacked Ann Webster by pressing a lit cigarette against her body and hair, and forced her to clean food he threw on the floor.
Further victims included Mary Matthew, assaulted at a flat in Scotstoun, Lynn Robertson, battered in Knightswood where Loughran attempted to strangle her with flex and hit weights at her, and Suzanne Small, who he repeatedly attacked by forcing her into a bath and holding her head underwater.
Anne Marie Hicks, head of the Domestic Abuse Unit, stated, "This is one of the most severe cases of domestic abuse we have ever dealt with, and I hope it will serve as a warning to other abusers that they will be pursued and will be sent to prison.
Loughran subjected his victims to regular, violent abuse.
Each time, the abuse started shortly after the relationship began and lasted until it ended, often many years."
