A “DIABOLICAL” domestic abuser was jailed for eight years for causing his wife to take her own life in a landmark prosecution today.

Lee Milne, 40, subjected his wife Kimberly to an 18-month abusive ordeal before the 28-year-old jumped on to the A90 and was struck by vehicles in Dundee on July 27 2023.

Milne was found guilty of causing her death at the High Court in Glasgow in March.

Jailing him at the court, Lady Drummond said that Milne had split up with his wife and she was “in distress and having difficulties” on the day of her death.

“Your response to her that day – driving erratically and at speed whilst she was in the car with you, shouting at her and throwing an item at her, acting aggressively and intimidating her – was further abuse carried out by you at a time when she was in a fragile state,” she continued.

“[She] reached a point of despair such that she climbed over the barrier of a road bridge and fell to her death.

“By the jury’s verdict, you must bear responsibility not only for all of your abusive acts, but for causing her death.”

Lady Drummond handed him a three-year extended sentence, meaning he will be on licence following his release.

The Crown Office said it is the first time an offender has been held criminally responsible for the suicide of their partner.

Milne, from Dundee, was also found guilty of a number of domestic abuse offences committed against Ms Milne between January 2022 and July 2023.

These included physically and verbally abusing her, coercing her to move in with him and marry him, attempting to cut off her contact with friends and family, and controlling her finances.

Homicide specialist Professor Jane Monckton Smith said the sentencing “suggests changes in understanding around the dangerousness of controlling abusers.”

Annie Palmer, of Dundee Women’s Aid, told LBC: “I’m disappointed about the length of the sentence, however, recognising there was a lot said about the coercive control, the pattern of behaviour that led up to the incident itself, the family hopefully now can have closure.”

Former New Scotland Yard criminal behavioural analyst Laura Richards said: “Men like Lee Milne are diabolical and are unsafe to be around women and children.”