Former inspector who terrorised wife and two daughters ‘hid his abuse behind the uniform’
Controlling Mike Kneeshaw, of Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, repeatedly yelled at his family, demanded a spotlessly clean home and threatened to commit suicide if his orders were ignored
A TOP Scots cop terrorised his wife and two girls in a six-year reign of abuse.
Mike Kneeshaw, of Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, was branded a "psycho in uniform".
Sources claim the bully cop kept his family’s abuse ordeal secret due to his “invincibility” in his high ranking position with the force.
The shamed ex-inspector, 52, tormented his wife Rosie, 54, and two daughters while masquerading as a respected officer.
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He repeatedly yelled at them, demanded a spotlessly clean home and threatened to commit suicide if his orders were ignored.
As his reputation lay in tatters after admitting the reign of terror, one of Rosie’s pals said: “He hid his abuse behind the uniform.
“He thought it made him invincible. He would rip into Rosie, saying she wasn’t bringing the girls up properly.
"It would be easier to count the weekends he didn’t threaten to kill himself — he did it all the time.
“Rosie was walking on eggshells yet, in public, he was a pillar of society.
“He was a psychopath in a a uniform.”
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Dumfries Sheriff Court heard how Kneeshaw ruled with an iron rod at his family home.
The sicko would leave on a Monday to teach officers for a week at Police Scotland’s HQ in Tulliallan, Fife.
But he exerted his control when he returned on Fridays, once showing Rosie a snap of their vacuum in the same spot to prove she hadn’t tidied the pad with their girls, aged 25 and 23.
The insider said: “He wouldn’t allow the kids to do anything until the house was inspected to his standard.
“He told Rosie he knew the Dyson hadn’t been used because he’d taken a picture and it was in the same place as when he left.
“He was controlling, selfish and heartless.”
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SICK Kneeshaw was feted as an ambassador for the force with his high-profile cases and TV appearances.
The brute worked on the Lockerbie bombing, right, early in his career and featured in a BBC show training cops in Sri Lanka.
ITV also featured him in his role as a mountain rescuer.
Kneeshaw’s domineering behaviour is said to have worsened as his career took off and he jetted to Malawi and Sri Lanka to teach cops.
The source added: “They worshipped the ground he walked on.
“He was already arrogant but this made him think he was beyond the law.”
Kneeshaw wed Rosie in 1990 before splitting in 2016. The cop retired from the force in 2014 after 31 years.
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Kneeshaw, who met Princes Charles during the Solway Harvester boat tragedy probe in 2000, admitted threatening and abusive behaviour, making derogatory comments about his wife and acting aggressively from 2010 to 2016.
Charges of pressuring Rosie to have an abortion in 1999, breach of the peace and assault were dropped.
Sentence was deferred. Rosie declined to comment.
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