Edinburgh crime: Musselburgh man Kevin Sands jailed after putting partner through four years of torture

A violent brute carried out a horror domestic abuse campaign against a woman by forcing her to swallow drugs and flushing her head down a toilet.

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Kevin Sands punched, kicked and strangled the woman as well as blinding her with a torch during one harrowing attack while the pair were an item between 2004 and 2008.

Sands, 38, also abused a second woman by taking control of her life by taking over her finances, dictating what clothes she wore and where she could and could not go.

Kevin Sands has been jailed for 47 months

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard on one occasion Sands battered the woman unconscious by throwing her to the ground during a violent bust up at a home in Haddington, East Lothian.

Sands denied the allegations but was found guilty by a jury following a four day trial at the city court last month and was remanded in custody.

He returned to the dock for sentencing on Tuesday where Sheriff Kenneth Campbell QC said he had carried out “sustained and relentless” campaign of domestic abuse against the two women.

The sheriff also described the offences as “callous, calculating and violent” which had “degraded” the victims.

Sands, from Musselburgh, East Lothian, was jailed for a total of 47 months and he will be supervised for 12 months following his release.

Sands was also handed non-harassment orders banning him from approaching or contacting the two victims for the next 25 years.

The trial heard from the first victim who was in a relationship with Sands during which he regularly assaulted her between 2004 and 2008.

The woman said she was forced to swallow quantities of dihydrocodeine and diazepam against her will and during one beating Sands dragged her into the toilet and flushed her head down the bowl.

He also forced the victim into a chair and blinded her by shining a torch in her eyes before grabbing her by throat and attempting to strangle her.

The second victim said Sands took over her life by controlling her movements, finances and coercing her into handing over her social media passwords so he could check up on her.

On one occasion in 2019 she told the court Sands had thrown her to the ground where she struck her head “rendering her unconscious”.

A second disturbing incident saw Sands angrily hitting the woman on the head with a mobile phone and repeatedly striking a door with a knife in an attempt to reach her.

Sands was found guilty of assaulting the first victim at various addresses in Haddington and Dunbar between January 1, 2004 and August 31, 2008.

He was also found guilty of a charge of abducting the woman and smashing mobile phones belonging to her during the same dates.

The jury also found Sands guilty of engaging in a course of conduct that was abusive towards the second victim at an address in Haddington between September 1, 2019 and January 10, 2020.

He was also found guilty of breaching a bail condition not to contact the second woman in January 2020.

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