A brave survivor of domestic abuse who endured 10 months of hell at the hands of her evil ex has spoken out about her ordeal.
Twisted Luke Mackie, 21, subjected Nicole Connor to almost one year of terrifying abuse - including choking her and cutting her off from her family and friends.
Mackie, on remand at HMP Edinburgh, wouldn't let Nicole go to the bathroom alone and threatened to kill her and her family members.
The thug pleaded guilty to 12 offences at Dundee Sheriff Court earlier this month and will be sentenced in November. Nicole, 23, has waived her right to anonymity to speak out about the lasting impact his actions have had on her life.
She told the Record: “He would be nice as anything and then he would just change. It was like flicking a switch.
“He needed control. He wouldn’t let me go anywhere, not even to see my sister. I wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom by myself because Luke thought I was going to message people behind his back. He would come into the bathroom to keep an eye on me.
Mackie and Nicole began a relationship in October 2020, but it became violent and abusive within weeks. He would choke Nicole to restrict her breathing, beat her up and steal her phone and car keys.
She ended the relationship in May 2021 - but Mackie continued to harass her for another two months. The thug followed her home and to her work, and hounded her with phone calls and abusive text messages.
In one sinister message, he warned police might become involved, writing: "Better hope when I get in touch with the police it's not your name that they're speaking about - not be a good day."
Nicole, who works as a nurse, now takes anti-anxiety medication and sleeping tablets to get to sleep. But she is still haunted by night terrors. Her family or friends often stay over to help calm her down.
She continued: "After we split up, he followed me home and from my work. He threatened to kill me and my family for weeks. He is dangerous."
"Now I struggle to go out alone in public and I can’t go out at night anymore.
“I barely get any sleep, some nights I don’t sleep at all. I’ve been left so anxious, wherever I go. I think I’ll live in constant fear that he's going to come back.
“He's just an evil guy, and it's made it difficult for me to trust anyone. I’ve found it hard to maintain relationships, because I’m frightened this will happen to me again. I can’t even answer the phone if I don’t recognise the number.
“This will affect me for the rest of my life.”
Nicole also finds it difficult to treat patients who have been attacked by their partners as she finds it “physically too much" to deal with.
Mackie pleaded guilty to a charge of coercive conduct against Nicole between October 1 2020 and July 31 2021. But the 21-year-old also admitted four charges against another girlfriend that he later met.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard he struck the second woman on the head and body at a taxi rank in Dundee in January 2022. A month later, at a Premier Inn hotel in Edinburgh, he brandished a boiled kettle at his new partner, pointed a glass bottle at her neck and threw her onto a bed before spitting in her face and refusing to let her leave - an act classed as abduction.
Mackie spent a taxi journey between the hotel and Waverley train station uttering derogatory remarks, and hurled her phone on a tramline. At the station itself, he told her not to board the train and struck her in the face, kicking over her suitcase.
He also admitted four other assault charges, including two attacks on police officers, two counts of threatening or abusive behaviour and a charge of possessing cocaine. He committed seven of the twelve crimes he admitted to whilst on bail. Mackie is due to be sentenced on November 11.
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