A 48-year-old man, who claimed that he was used as “a guinea pig” and “given various psychoactive drugs” while serving in the army, has been jailed for six months after admitting to racially abusing his ex-girlfriend.

Gordon McCord, who is currently serving a sentence at Glenochil Prison, appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court from custody last week and pled guilty to one charge.

Between October 1 2015 and February 1 2016, McCord behaved in a threatening or abusive manner, swore, and used sectarian remarks towards his former partner at her home in Kilwinning.

The court heard that McCord and the woman had been in a relationship between January 2015 and February 2016 and at the time of the offence, the woman had reported other matters to the police about McCord which were being investigated. 

The woman had been at her home address with her daughter when McCord made reference to her being catholic. 

He used the words “dirty catholic” and “f****n b*****d” towards her. 

The court heard that McCord’s former girlfriend had found these words to be “extremely offensive”.

The court also heard that the woman had found such abuse to be a regular occurrence during the course of her relationship with McCord.

McCord’s solicitor, Mr Mullen, acknowledged that his client had a previous record for charges of a similar nature and that there had been complaints about him from “various ladies”.

But he added: “To be fair, they were largely historic.”

Mr Mullen also said: “His background is that he’s a military man. He served in Northern Ireland and the Balkans in the 90s. 

“He was effectively a guinea pig. He was given various psychoactive drugs. 

“Since he was discharged from the army, he has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.

“He has been dealing with his behaviour through alcohol use and with matters such as this. When sober he struggles to come to terms with his behaviour.”

Sheriff McKenzie said: “Considering the nature of the offence and the narration which I’ve heard from the fiscal and the information from your solicitor, I’m satisfied that a custodial sentence is acceptable.”

McCord was sentenced to six months in prison, reduced from nine months due to his guilty plea, to be served concurrently with his current sentence.