Plumber brandished knife after finding girlfriend in bed with another man

Published on Friday 6 June 2008 14:05

A JILTED plumber waved a knife about in a jealous rage after catching his girlfriend in bed with another man.

Stephen McCreadie, 39, crawled through the bathroom window of his lover's Edinburgh home in the early morning because he thought she might have slept in.

But he then launched a tirade of abuse against Sarah Ryan, 28, after finding her in the bedroom with someone else.

The livid plumber then ran out and returned with a kitchen knife.

Today at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, McCreadie was fined 400 after admitting placing the couple in a state of fear and alarm and brandishing a knife.

Fiscal depute Ruth Davis said McCreadie had turned up at his girlfriend's home just before seven in the morning.

The plumber rang her buzzer but when he wasn't answered, he slipped in through her bathroom window.

First offender McCreadie burst into Miss Ryan's bedroom and was confronted by the couple in bed together.

He began shouting and swearing, before leaving the room. But he soon returned with a kitchen knife and again began screaming at the pair.

Miss Ryan called the police and, although McCreadie made off, he was soon arrested.

His defence solicitor, Leanne McQuillen, said the pair had an 18-month relationship but had fallen out while on a night out the day before the incident in April.

The couple became separated but McCreadie claimed he had expected to pick her up for work as usual the next morning.

He said that when Miss Ryan did not answer her door, he was worried she had slept in and decided to climb into the Abbey Lane flat.

Miss McQuillen said: "He thought they were in a permanent relationship and was upset to find her in bed with another man."

McCreadie, of Queens Park Court, had a plea of not guilty accepted to a charge of assaulting Miss Ryan.