An Alba Party candidate who menaced his ex-wife and threatened to tell “friends” at Perth Prison about her new husband has avoided further punishment.
Mark Shields made baseless claims about his ex-partner’s man in a series of abusive emails.
He said her husband was “probably a nonce,” Perth Sheriff Court was told.
The 53-year-old, who stood for Alex Salmond’s pro-independence party in 2022 and 2023, previously pled guilty to causing fear or alarm by behaving in a threatening or alarming way at a city property.
He admitted a domestically-aggravated charge of repeatedly contacting his ex and making offensive remarks on August 9 last year.
Shields, from Townhead, Glasgow, returned to the dock this week for sentencing and was admonished, meaning he has a criminal record but was not punished further.
‘I have friends currently in HMP Perth’
The court heard Shields had kept out of trouble since his last court appearance in February.
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC told him: “I have a report before me that tells me you have not come to the adverse attention of police since sentence was deferred.
“For that reason, you will be admonished and dismissed.”
Shields thanked the sheriff as he left the dock.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Hodgson previously told the court Shields and his wife had been married for three-and-a-half years, separating in early 2022.
“At about 5pm on August 9 last year, the accused began sending emails to his former partner in relation to her current husband.
“He sent a total of nine emails.
“They contained unsubstantiated claims that her new husband was a paedophile.”
Shields told his ex: “I have friends currently in HMP Perth.
“I will introduce his name into the next conversation I have with either of them and see if he’s known about in the area.”
Ms Hodgson said: “The accused stated that her husband was ‘probably a nonce’ and made reference to the fact he tried to call him 44 times.”
The court heard he referred to the man as a “scummy rat”.
There was no contact between Shields and his former partner since the emails were sent, the fiscal depute confirmed.
The woman reported the matter to police on October 19 – around the time Shields was campaigning for the Motherwell South East and Ravenscraig by-election.
He was arrested in January after being quizzed by officers at Coatbridge police station.
Threat was a ‘one-off’
Solicitor John McLaughlin had assured the court: “He doesn’t know anyone in Perth Prison.”
He said: “He has never been in trouble in his life before.
“Mr Shields realises that these were stupid comments to make.”
Sheriff Bain had described the comments as “unfortunate” and deferred sentence for Shields to show they were a “one-off”.
He was banned from contacting his ex for a year.
Shields stood as a candidate for the Alba Party in North Lanarkshire Council‘s Coatbridge North seat in 2022 amassing 163 votes, less than 2% of the vote.
The following year, he fought in the Motherwell South East and Ravenscraig by-election and got 66 votes.
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