Family whisky boss made wife's life 'hell'

A SHAMED ex-director of a Scots whisky firm has been convicted of terrorising his wife.

- By Connor Gordon

Christopher Leggat verbally and violently abused Cara Leggat over a period of two years.

The 44-year-old is the former managing director of Douglas Laing & Co, his wife’s family’s company. And yesterday, Glasgow Sheriff Court heard how he made her life hell between September 2022 and November 2024 as his 12-year marriage broke down.

Leggat repeatedly slapped his wife, 42, and later pushed her into a kitchen cabinet that caused her an injury.

Prospects

He wished her dead, notably after he was unhappy about a water bottle he received as a birthday present and also attempted to stop Ms Leggat, the company’s current managing director, from seeing her father, chairman Fred Laing and her mother Catherine Laing, both 74.

The victim finally reported matters to the police having initially been scared that a conviction would affect Leggat's job prospects.

Now unemployed, he faces a custodial sentence after being found guilty of engaging in a course of abusive behaviour.

Sheriff Allan McKay said: “I was presented with a stark difference in recall between you and your wife.