A Fife teenager stalked a woman he never actually met in person after she ended their online “relationship”.
Christian Prince, 19, of Craigleith Avenue, Inverkeithing, only ever had online contact with the woman but after their “break-up”, he sent her unwanted emails proclaiming his eternal love and more than 100 messages.
He previously admitted engaging in a course of conduct which caused the woman fear or alarm by excessively contacting her through social media, phone calls and emails, using multiple online profiles to contact her and refusing to desist.
The domestically-aggravated offending took place between June 21 and July 15 this year.
Unsuccessfully blocked on social media
Prosecutor Brogan Moffat told Dunfermline Sheriff Court that in 2019 Prince and the woman “met” while playing computer games online and became friends.
On June 21 they had a disagreement which resulted in her sending Prince a message stating she no longer wanted to have contact with him but he refused to accept this and asked her to phone him.
She blocked Prince on Snapchat, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
The fiscal depute said the witness almost immediately received around 20 new Snapchat friend requests, thought to be from Prince.
He also sent her emails in which he declared his everlasting love for her.
She did not reply to the emails and he sent her “in excess of 100 messages” using various social media accounts and phone numbers, the fiscal said.
The fiscal added: “The witness began to feel fearful by the persistent conduct and reported it to police”.
Arrested after police informed
The court heard that on June 22 Sussex police took a statement from her and contacted Police Scotland, who arrested Prince the following month.
Defence lawyer Elaine Buist said Prince and the woman had “never actually met in person” and that it was “only ever an online relationship”.
Ms Buist said her client works in the stock room for a large clothing retailer.
The solicitor added: “Mr Prince appears to have reacted in a most unfortunate manner to the break-up of the relationship”.
Sheriff Wyllie Robertson sentenced Prince to offender supervision for 12 months as part of a community payback order.
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