Doctor jailed for attacks on children and wife

A DOCTOR who has been jailed for 15 months after carrying out a string of assaults on his family.

Glasgow Sheriff Court. Picture: TSPL

Michael Lever, 43, attacked his wife Caroline Lever while she was carrying their second child and strangled her over a table. He was also convicted of assaulting her son and his daughter.

Ms Lever’s son, Patrick George, witnessed the attack on his mother and said he thought she was going to be killed.

Lever – who has five children with his estranged wife – also slapped Mr George for taking a book without permission and threw a can of beer at his daughter after an argument.

He denied the charges, but a jury at Glasgow Sheriff Court found him guilty of assaulting Ms Lever at hospital accommodation at Law Hospital, Carluke, while she was pregnant between 1997 and July 1998. He was cleared of kneeing her in the stomach during the attack.

Lever was also cleared of holding a knife to Ms Lever’s throat during another incident.

The doctor, from Nether Auchendrane, Ayr, was convicted of an assault on Mr George on an occasion between July 2001 and March 2004, and his 16-year-old daughter Sophie on an occasion between January 2008 and January 2010.

He was also found guilty of a breach of the peace by holding a knife to his throat and brandishing the blade, scaring Ms Lever and Mr George.

Yesterday, sheriff Sam Cathcart jailed Lever for 15 months. He said the General Medical Council have to be informed of his sentence.

Ms Lever, 42, told the court Lever moved into her flat with her and her son within months of them becoming a couple.

She described him as “very much the disciplinarian” with regards to Mr George, now 20.

Ms Lever told the court about the attack after they moved to the hospital accommodation in Carluke. Depute fiscal Ruth Ross-Davie asked: “What physical condition were you in?”

She replied: “I was pregnant.” The witness confirmed Lever knew she was pregnant.

She said: “He strangled me over a table.”

Ms Ross-Davie asked: “How long did that go on for?”

The witness replied: “I don’t know I just remember not being able to breathe.”

In his evidence, Mr George said his mother and Lever argued a lot, but on one occasion it sounded more serious.

Mr George said: “I went out to see what was going on and I found my mum on the table.

“He [Lever] was on top of her. As far as I can remember he was strangling her.”

Mr George said he ran to phone the police but was told not to by Lever. He told the court: “I was scared that he was going to kill her.”

The court also heard of an incident when Lever held a knife to his own throat during an argument with his wife and threatened to kill himself.