Serial abuser who murdered partner is jailed for at least 27 years

Jane Fitzpatrick was abused by Campbell throughout their relationship

A serial abuser who murdered his partner by hitting her with a tyre iron has been jailed for at least 27 years.

Mark Campbell, 37, killed 48-year-old Jane Fitzpatrick in the Cable Road area of Glenrothes on 9 August, 2021.

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.

Judge Lady Poole said society would not tolerate domestic abuse against women.

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At the High Court in Edinburgh, Campbell was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 27 years in prison before he can apply for parole.

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

He isolated her from friends and family, threatened her, monitored her movements and her social media accounts, and damaged her mobile phones.

• Serial abuser killed partner with tyre iron

Before the murder, she had gone to hospital in Kirkcaldy after being sick and unsteady on her feet following a head injury.

Campbell induced her to discharge herself from hospital against medical advice, before inflicting head injuries on her with a tyre iron.

He was found by police in the driver's seat of his car with Ms Fitzpatrick dead beside him.

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

Mark Campbell was found guilty of murder and a number of sexual offences and assaults

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

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.

Campbell was convicted of raping and assaulting three women and assaulting three others between 2004 and 2020 at locations in Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and Leven in Fife.

Lady Poole said Campbell's abuse of women started when he was a teenager and escalated over the years before culminating in the murder of Ms Fitzpatrick.

"Our society will not tolerate domestic abuse against women," she said.

"The sentences the courts impose on abusers must reflect that."

Defence counsel Brian McConnachie KC said his client maintained that he did not commit the offences.

He said: "It seems to be the case that he grew up in an environment where domestic abuse was very much the done thing."

Campbell was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.