A FAIFLEY thug who left his ex bleeding on the ground after he punched her in the face following an angry row over the care of their child has been spared a prison sentence.

Kyle Miller fractured his former partner’s eye socket after accusing her of “taking the p***” when he was left to look after the child for more than 24 hours.

Miller, of Langfaulds Crescent, appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court for sentencing last Friday after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to a charge of assaulting the woman to her severe injury at a flat in Hardgate on July 1 last year.

At a previous hearing in August, the court had been told Miller got angry at his ex when he was left looking after their child overnight, and had left her with an “orbital floor fracture” – a break in the bone around the eye socket – as a result of a punch to the right side of her face.

That court hearing was told by Miller’s solicitor, Judith Hutchison, that her client had apologised for his behaviour.

But the brief said her client maintained that the injury was caused not by the punch, but by his victim falling against the door, or the upright of the door, at the flat in Irving Avenue where the incident took place.

At Friday’s sentencing hearing – which was called to allow social workers time to prepare a background report – Ms Hutchison said 25-year-old Miller had been assessed as suitable for a place on the PAIR Programme, West Dunbartonshire Council’s initiative for those convicted of domestic abuse offences.

“There was concern expressed about his record [of previous convictions],” Ms Hutchison told the court.

“It doesn’t make great reading from 2013-14, but that was when he was aged 18 or 19 and had a young, carefree and perhaps reckless outlook towards life.

“He has now matured following the birth of his son, and there is a job waiting for him as an optic cable layer when the outcome of these proceedings is known.”

After considering the evidence, Sheriff John Hamilton placing Miller on a community payback order.

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Turning to Miller, Sheriff Hamilton warned him: “If it wasn’t for the existence of the PAIR programme, I suspect you would be going to jail.

“Your record shows an atrocious attitude towards women.”

Miller will be supervised by a social worker for 12 months and must complete 200 hours of unpaid work by June of next year.

Sheriff Hamilton also told Miller that failure to comply with the order handed down would “almost inevitably mean custody”.