A Lanarkshire woman who was brutally abused by her police officer partner labelled a court's decision allowing him to miss a review hearing, “another kick in the teeth”.
Fraser Ross was placed on a Community Payback Order (CPO) in June last year after being convicted of assaulting Anne-Marie Hirdman a number of times at an address in Motherwell.
The Lanarkshire mum who was in a relationship with the 42-year-old for six years, claimed Ross subjected her to physical, verbal or emotional abuse on an almost-weekly basis. He later resigned from his job in disgrace, after 16 years with the police.
The repeated abuse was so bad that the 42-year-old mum claimed she feared that she would be killed and said the authorities had to do more to tackle domestic abuse. She called for harsher punishments to be dished out to perpetrators.
“The perpetrators know that the laws are not harsh enough,” Anne-Marie said at the time. “You need to have two forms of evidence to prove some of it and they don’t fear the punishments.
“We need to make sure kids are being taught from a young age what is acceptable and what is not.
“But people in society also need to stand up and speak out when they know someone is doing something wrong.
“Sometimes it feels that nothing is done until a person has been severely beaten or murdered. People tend to not want to get involved.”
Anne-Marie, who went on to work with Women’s Aid following her ordeal, criticised the justice system again after learning that Ross didn’t have to attend court for a review of his CPO after the decision was made in an attempt to “reduce footfall” at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
Anne-Marie now claims Ross was, and still is, being treated differently from other perpetrators of domestic abuse.
She said: “I’m not surprised as he has been getting treated differently all the time throughout this process.
“It’s the wrong signal to send out to criminals who are police officers and to the public in having faith in the system.
“This is another kick in the teeth.”
A Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service spokesman said: “Fraser Ross was sentenced on June 22, 2021, to a Community Payback Order.
“Mr Ross was present at this hearing. Thereafter, the Sheriff has assigned a number of reviews.
“The practice at Hamilton as directed by the Sheriff Principal is to reduce footfall within the building.”
*Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head on over and give us a like and share!
