A multi-millionaire has admitted threatening his former partner in a bid to make her abort their child.
Property investor Mark Emlick, 52, pleaded guilty to confronting the woman at her parents’ Kinross home when she was around five months pregnant.
Perth Sheriff Court heard that the woman, who met Emlick when she went to work for him, was due to give birth in June last year.
Depute fiscal Carol Whyte said the couple had been in a relationship for around a year but had split following a dispute over the woman’s pregnancy.
She said Emlick “began to rant at the complainer, saying he despised her”.
Ms Whyte said he told his ex: “You have ruined my life these last 10 months but I’ll tell you this you’re finished and I’ll make sure you’re finished.
She went on: “He continued to rant about the baby, referring to it as a problem that he would take care of.”
Ms Whyte said that the woman’s parents described Emlick’s demeanour as “threatening, intimidating and aggressive”.
She added: “The accused made it clear he didn’t wish her to continue with the pregnancy and tried to persuade her to have a termination.”
Solicitor Ramsay Hall, defending, said Emlick was “genuinely remorseful”.
Mr Hall said: “The day before he learned that he had been induced to provide her with a substantial amount of money, tens of thousands of pounds.
“She had also led Mr Emlick to believe her life was in danger. Mr Emlick subsequently found out that all of that was incorrect.”
He added that his client had made a complaint to the police over her inducing him to provide money.
Mr Hall added: “He accepts what he said about the complainer was entirely unacceptable and regrets what he said. It was an error of judgment made in the heat of the moment.”
Emlick, of Sunbury Street, Edinburgh, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on February 8 last year, trying to persuade the woman to have an abortion, and placing her in a state of fear and alarm by his actions.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis fined Emlick £700.