A stalker man who tormented his ex-partner at her Fife home for a month tried to justify his behaviour by saying he “wanted to see the dogs one last time”.
Graham Ross, 38, spent about three hours “hanging around” outside the woman’s home on one occasion and in another instance stared at her house from a bench, Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard.
Days later he sent her emails revealing he was aware she had been at the pub “two nights in a row”.
Ross appeared in the dock for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to stalking between June 1 and 30 last year at her address in Rosyth and from his home in Dunfermline‘s Henryson Road.
Hanging around at house
Prosecutor Matthew McPherson told the court the pair met online and their relationship, this ended in 2023.
The fiscal depute said one evening last June the woman saw Ross sitting on a grit bin across the road from her home.
Mr McPherson said: “She then saw him walking loops around her house, into the park, then sitting back on her fence, drinking a can of beer.
“The witness contacted friends, who attended, and it appeared Mr Ross had been hanging around her house for around three hours.
“(The woman) was particularly alarmed by this and contacted police”.
Around a week later she noticed an email from Ross in her spam folder, having blocked him, which said she had been seen by him in the pub the previous night.
Later that night at around 11.30pm, the woman was outside a pool hall in Rosyth having a cigarette and received another email from Ross which stated: “Two nights in a row.”
Alarmed, she requested a lift home from friends, who arrived to see Ross standing in the front of the pool hall.
He ran off when they asked what he was doing, the court heard.
200 emails, 300-to-400 texts
On another occasion the woman saw Ross sitting on a bench behind her house for between 30 and 45 minutes and he was seen staring at her house several times before walking past the back gate.
Witnesses managed to photograph him.
The fiscal depute said police came to take a statement from the woman in mid-July.
“At this time they saw around 200 emails from Mr Ross and between 300 and 400 text messages”.
Officers spoke to Ross four days later.
He indicated he was suffering from mental health problems and “wanted to see the dogs one last time,” the fiscal said.
After being charged, he acknowledged he was messaging the woman and said there were only two occasions he went near her house.
He said the first was to drop off dog toys and the second was when he decided to pass on the way back home from a fishing trip.
Dogs ‘excuse’
Defence lawyer Alan Davie said his first offender client handled the relationship breakup badly and had hoped for reconciliation.
The solicitor said the dogs were “viewed as an excuse by him to justify to himself trying to see her.
“He did want to see the dogs as well but used that as an excuse”.
Referring to a social work report, Mr Davie said there is a degree of minimisation by Ross and while his client did not believe much of what he did came out of malice, it was alarming behaviour.
Sheriff Krista Johnston told Ross: “Your behaviour was persistent and repeated and must have caused considerable upset and alarm to the lady concerned.”
The sheriff sentenced Ross to 100 hours of unpaid work and made a two-year non-harassment order.
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