Serial abuser guilty of killing partner with tyre iron

Mark Campbell will be sentenced in July after being found guilty of murder and a number of sexual offences and assaults

A man has been found guilty of killing his partner by striking her with a tyre iron.

Mark Campbell, 37, was convicted on Tuesday following a trial at Edinburgh High Court.

He was also found guilty of 13 other charges, including 12 assaults and sexual offences against women in the Fife area, between 2003 and 2021.

The body of Jane Fitzpatrick, 48, was found in a car in the Cable Road area of Glenrothes on 9 August, 2021.

The court heard Ms Fitzpatrick was abused by Campbell throughout their relationship which began in September 2020.

• Man charged after woman's body found in car

He isolated her from friends and family, threatened her, monitored her movements and her social media accounts and damaged her mobile phones. He also struck her on head and body to her serious injury.

She died from head injuries after being attacked with the metal tool.

Police found Campbell in the driver's seat of his Citroen car with Ms Fitzpatrick's body beside him.

He denied murdering her, claiming she had banged her head and fallen asleep.

Several other women gave evidence of the physical, sexual and emotional abuse Campbell inflicted upon them.

The court heard how he began his offending when he was still a teenager and subjected the women to physical, sexual and verbal abuse.

One former partner said that during an assault on her in 2018 at a house in Glenrothes he pushed a finger into a healing operation wound on her back and dragged her from a bed.

Another woman said she was thrown down a flight of stairs and kicked in the stomach when she was pregnant. Campbell also bit her on the head, tried to force drugs into her mouth and forced raw meat into her mouth.

Jane Fitzpatrick's body was found in a car in Cable Road, Glenrothes

Judge Lady Poole told Campbell: "The jury has found you guilty of serious charges of abusing women and murdering your most recent partner."

She said six women were to be commended for their courage in giving evidence about their treatment at Campbell's hands.

The judge said: "What you did to these women was harrowing and shocking to listen to. Your behaviour has devastated lives."

Det Insp Scott Roxburgh said it was an "extremely violent attack".

He said: "Campbell will now have to face the consequences of his actions.

"Violence like this has no place in our society and Police Scotland will continue to work closely with the public and our partners to bring perpetrators to justice."

Campbell was convicted of assaulting six women and raping three of them between 2004 between 2020 at locations in Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and Leven in Fife before committing the murder.

He was placed on the sex offenders register and will be sentenced at Stirling High Court on 20 July, 2023.