An Irvine dad launched a tirade of abuse on his fiancée after discovering she pawned their son’s Playstation for gambling money.

Barry Hart admitted to calling his fiancée a “sl*t” and dirty “f*****g w***e” and smashing a lamp after realising the games console was gone.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court was told Hart, 38, had been drinking in the couple’s living room in Hunter Drive, whilst his fiancé made dinner in the kitchen at about 10pm on October 26 this year.

Fiscal depute Jennifer Harkins told the court: “The accused went in to the kitchen calling the complainer a ‘slag’ and ‘a dirty f*****g whore’.

“This was due to his son’s PS4 not being in the house.

“The accused continued to shout and swear and began to get aggressive.

“The accused then smashed a lamp that was sitting on the kitchen worktop on to the floor before going into the hall and throwing clothing and towels around the living room.

“Police were contacted and at that point the accused began to tidy up the items that he had thrown around.

“Police arrived and found him in the living room drinking alcohol. He was arrested and taken to Saltcoats Police Office.”

Defending his client however, Peter Murray said he had reacted to discovering his son’s games console had been pawned for his finacee of 11 years to get money for slot machines.

He said: “Without in any way excusing his behaviour, the situation is that his partner has a gambling problem, with slot machines and the like.

“There’s various items been pawned to raise money to allow her to do that.

“It came to his attention that the PS4 was missing again and it transpired that it had been taken to Cash Converters to allow her to have funds for gambling.

“There’s no history of domestic offending but he tells me that was the trigger for it.”

Sheriff Michael Hanlon adjourned sentencing for reports.

Hart, of Maree Place, will return to court in December.