A Perth man who bombarded his ex with unwanted phone calls and was caught eating pizza outside her house in the middle of the night has been ordered to get hospital treatment.
James Robertson plagued his former partner with bizarre and sometimes sinister voicemail messages.
In one recording he told her: “I hope you rot in hell.”
In another, he professed his love and sang Pretty Woman down the phone.
Perth Sheriff Court heard Robertson left some messages with just the sound of heavy breathing.
The 50-year-old had been found guilty of engaging in a course of conduct that caused his ex-partner fear or alarm between November 24 and December 18, last year.
He was also convicted of a second, similar charge of repeatedly calling and leaving voicemail messages between September 22 and October 9.
The compulsion order imposed will last for six months and means Robertson, of Elcho Court, will remain in hospital.
A non-harassment order was also issued, blocking Robertson from contacting his ex for three years.
The court heard police officers visited the woman’s home in Perth to hear some of the voicemail recordings.
During their visit, Robertson called again and left a message saying he was going to get pizza.
When officers left the property, they spotted him standing under a streetlight tucking into the fast food.
In 2018, Robertson admitted flouting bail conditions banning him from contacting the same woman.
He was fined £500.
Businessman remanded
The former director of a top Dundee media firm has been locked up after police uncovered hundreds of horrifying child abuse images on computers at his home. Entrepreneur David Rankine was caught with photos and videos featuring boys as young as four being sexually assaulted by adults. He will be sentenced next month.
Asda fraud
A woman tried to defraud a supermarket after picking up a coat in-store and exchanging it for other items.
Gaynor Smith, 42, was caught committing the offence at Asda on Derwent Crescent on November 11 last year.
She pled guilty via her solicitor at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Smith, of Russell Crescent, has a previous conviction for shoplifting, the court heard.
Depute fiscal Rachel Hill said: “She made her way to the clothing department and picked up a woman’s coat.
“She proceeded to exchange the coat (at the till) for a man’s dressing gown and a gift card.
“As she was leaving the door alarm activated.”
Smith was caught at Asda in Derwent Avenue.
Sheriff Robert More, fining Smith, said: “Even though there was no loss to the shop, some considerable planning has gone into this.”
Smith was fined £80 to be repaid at £10 per fortnight.
One-punch peril
One-punch thug Kieran Fletcher knocked his neighbour unconscious during a flare-up outside his Coupar Angus flat. He later returned to the scene with a knife before his arrest.
Toddler assault
A woman has admitted assaulting a toddler in Perth’s Bridgend.
Rebecca Shipman appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and pled guilty to attacking the three-year-old on March 12, last year.
The 32-year-old held the boy off the ground by his arm and repeatedly slapped him on the body with her hand.
The assault happened on Main Street, Perth.
Shipman, of Potterhill, Lochie Brae, will be sentenced on July 20.
The Bogey Man returns
A serial offender from Dundee, self-dubbed “The Bogey Man”, has been jailed after fighting with supermarket staff over paper towels. Ziggi Christie, 42, had been banned from entering Farmfoods in Lochee, last summer but returned and grabbed the paper towels – an anti-Covid measure for wiping down trolleys – and making a dash for it.
Jail warning
A Kirkcaldy man could be jailed again after being caught driving while disqualified and uninsured.
Mark Brown appeared at the town’s sheriff court to admit being behind the wheel of a grey Volkswagen at Durie Vale Roundabout in Windygates on September 10.
The 35-year-old is also still to be sentenced for stealing a grinder and possessing cocaine while at the Co-op supermarket on Lauder Road in Kirkcaldy in the summer of 2020.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard Brown,of Hendry Road, was released from prison in April 2021.
Sheriff James Williamson deferred sentencing until July and said: “He’s a man who ordinarily might go to jail.”
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
