A stalker who told a victim he had installed a tracking device on her car was later found with a knife in his vehicle.
Sheriff James Macdonald told creepy Scott Robertson he posed a danger to his partners – but refused to jail him because he said prison might not be able to provide treatment for his “dangerously controlling behaviour”.
Fiscal depute Sean Maher told Perth Sheriff Court the woman had ended a relationship with 48-year-old Robertson.
Mr Maher said she was in her home with a friend when Robertson appeared at the back door.
“He advised her he would give her 10 minutes to get rid of her friend and he would return. He was told to leave,” the prosecutor said.
She and her friend fled to her friend’s home and tried to conceal where her car was parked.
“She received a call from Mr Robertson, stating he had placed a tracking device in her car and would be able to retrieve it,” said Mr Maher.
Robertson was seen near her car with a torch and when police later intercepted his car they found a knife in the central console.
A few months later, Robertson began a campaign of harassment against another woman, who had tried to end a brief relationship with him.
Mr Maher said Robertson had called her at her work and told her: “I’m in control now. You will phone and text me when I say.”
She hung up and had been scared to leave work on her own at the end of the day, the court heard. When she did, Robertson was sitting in his car in the car park.
“He placed his vehicle in such a position to prevent her leaving the car park. He tried the door handle of her car to try to gain access,” said Mr Maher.
Robertson continued to stalk her and left her shaken and distressed by turning up outside her home.
When he was arrested and accused of causing his victim alarm, Robertson told officers: “That’s just a lot of b******s.”
His solicitor, David Holmes, said Robertson was a lorry driver for Perth and Kinross Council until he was sacked for cocaine use.
Sheriff James Macdonald said: “These are undoubtedly serious matters. The combination of offences merely reinforces that. It is open to me to send you to prison for three and-a-half years.
“Your thought patterns require to be addressed. I’m not satisfied any prison sentence will require you to undertake offence focused work in custody, which means you will leave prison still posing an unacceptable risk.
“For that reason – and with considerable reservations – I am only just persuaded not to impose consecutive prison sentences.”
Robertson, of Windsor Court, Perth, admitted causing both women fear or alarm during the incidents in 2019, as well as having a knife in his car.
He was ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and was banned from having any contact with his victims for two years.
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