A PRISON officer from Port Glasgow has been charged with 11 counts of alleged domestic violence and abuse against two women.

Lewis McGarrigle, 25, is said by the Crown to have committed a catalogue of offences over a period spanning three years.

Prosecutors say he physically assaulted one woman on five occasions and also subjected her to threatening text messages.

It is alleged that in one incident McGarrigle seized her throat and compressed it, placed his hands over her nose and mouth and held a cushion over her face before striking her on the head to injury.

He is alleged to have repeatedly struck her head, placed his hands around her throat while she slept, caused her to fall to the ground and threw a lighter off her head to injury on other occasions.

It is claimed by prosecutors that McGarrigle shouted and swore whilst in a car and repeatedly struck the fascia and punched the bodywork of the vehicle whilst placing the woman in a state of fear and alarm.

He is said to have punched the other woman on her body and seized and twisted her arm to injury.

Prosecutors say that the alleged offences took place at houses and locations in Gourock and Glasgow between October 1 2016 and July 31 this year.

McGarrigle, of the Port's Boglestone Avenue, appeared at Greenock Sheriff Court on an undertaking and pleaded not guilty through lawyer Gerry Keenan.

He was allowed bail on condition that he does not approach or contact the women, or attempt to do so, in any way.

The case is due to call again on January 8, ahead of a trial scheduled for January 28.