SCOTLAND'S top cartoonist beat up his wife as they lay in bed.

Malky McCormick punched wife Ann repeatedly on the head after a row broke out when she was unable to get to sleep.

The attack came after a number of personal tragedies in McCormick's life, including his son Sean being left brain damaged by a vicious street assault.

McCormick, 63, was arrested after the attack at his Ayrshire home and bailed to his holiday home in Millport on condition he did not approach his wife.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard he was seeking help to deal with events in his life and Mrs McCormick now wanted him back.

Sheriff Seith Ireland told McCormick: "You have been dealt a particularly hard hand, but you snapped and took it out on your wife.

"Your wife is anxious you can go back to live with her. Just make sure you behave yourself."

McCormick admitted the attack at the couple's home in Main Road, Waterside, on February 7.

Sentence was deferred for good behaviour and he was granted bail.

Sean McCormick suffered a fractured skull when he was attacked outside a Kilmarnock nightclub in April 2003.

Gordon Gibb, 19, was jailed for three years and nine months and his 38-year-old father, also Gordon, was given six months for the assault.