Man, 62, jailed after making his wife write ‘mistake book’ for failing to please him

Robert Simmons has been sentenced to 32 months in jail, after he admitted to countless incidents of abuse against his wife Karen, which included making her keep a “mistake book”.

For almost 30 years, the father-of-six made his wife carry around a notebook to detail all of the times she failed to please him and would punish her accordingly.

When the 62-year-old’s wife didn’t comply with his “orders” he would also punish his wife, telling police in his early interview that Karen had taken "a vow of obedience to me" and when he got “hands-on” then she “knows I’m serious”.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie described Simmons from Shetland, UK as “controlling” and was said to have created an “almost cult-like” atmosphere dating back to 1988.

MacKenzie told the court the regular church-goer used religion as a justification for his “controlling and coercive” behaviour, which included timetabling his wife’s days into 15 minute slots and punishing her if she didn’t follow it.

One of Mrs Simmons punishments was being hosed down with ice cold water, while on another occasion when she attempted to run away, he put her in the boot of his car.

Across the 11 charges of physical abuse, Simmons was accused of grabbing his wife’s throat to restrict her breathing, slapping her legs with plastic pipes and giving her two black eyes.

Then there was another notebook was filled with a "record of observations the accused would make about random aspects of life".

Police seized hundreds of notebooks from their home and details from these were summarized in Lerwick Sheriff Court last month.

Simmons was then sentenced this week, with the Sheriff Philip Mann telling the court, despite calls for the case to go to the High Court for sentencing, he would rule on the case with his jurisdiction.

While Simmons could have had up to five years behind bars, Sheriff Mann gave him a lesser sentence for his early guilty pleas and not subjecting his victim to give “distressing evidence” on the stand.

In a statement from Simmons, read out to the court by his solicitor Tommy Allan, the 62-year-old said: "I did wrong. At no time did I think she deserved this".

"I see things differently now. I don't think she deserved to be treated the way I treated her or to have the things I said to her said to her."