Bin man Matthew Ryan who tormented woman in Glasgow told her he would dig up her dead mother

A bin man who put a woman through a horror ordeal warned he would dig up her mother’s dead body to put in front of her.

Matthew Ryan tormented and hounded the victim who regularly suffered at his violent hands.

This included him flying into a rage because he had no money to gamble.

The 31 year-old later managed to escape from police with a handcuff dangling from his wrist when officers tried to arrest him.

After fleeing out the back door of a Glasgow city centre coffee shop, Ryan was eventually discovered hiding in a garden three miles away.

Ryan – previously guilty of offences against the same woman – is now back behind bars after he admitted to a number of charges including engaging in abusive behaviour towards her.

The crimes occurred between April 2022 and August 2023 mainly in Motherwell, Lanarkshire.

Prosecutor Tracey Brown detailed a number of physical attacks Ryan doled out.

One was as a result of him being annoyed at someone not eating their dinner.

In connection with another violent rage, Ms Brown told the High Court in Glasgow: “He had threatened to dig up the woman’s deceased mother’s body and bring it to her.”

Ryan would also obsessively keep tabs on where the woman was, shout and swear at her as well make false accusations about the victim.

The pair were in a car with others when Ryan again turned on her.

Ms Brown said: “He became increasingly angry when he realised that he did not have money to gamble and place bets.”

Ryan went on to smack her head forcibly off the vehicle’s dashboard.

Other incidents included him brandishing a scalpel at the woman.

He also ended up in a “foul mood” when she went for a job interview.

Ryan was charged and bailed by a court in March 2023. However, he gave an address he had earlier been evicted from.

Police traced him the next day – via his work as a bin man – in Glasgow city centre.

But, Ryan lashed out as officers tried to detain him and he ran off across busy roads.

The escape saw him storm through the rear door of a nearby Starbucks and eventually catch a subway to the city’s Ibrox.

Police then learned he had links to an address in Glasgow’s Parkhead.

It was there he was found hiding between a garden shed and fence – still with handcuffs attached to one arm.