A Dundee man who suffered 15 years of emotional trauma from his stalker ex-partner and her mother says their treatment of him makes “Baby Reindeer pale into insignificance.”
The pair subjected Christopher Sinclair to a lengthy hate campaign, with his former partner Katie McKenzie being convicted of stalking him in 2018 and given a five-year non-harassment order.
Her mother Carolann Curran was also arrested and charged with stalking him but the Crown did not proceed and the charges against her were dropped.
However, after the order expired, both women made false allegations in two long-running court actions against Mr Sinclair in a bizarre attempt to have him placed on a non-harassment order for stalking them.
Their allegations, that Mr Sinclair was stalking them by engineering situations to be in the same locus (mainly his home and place of work) as McKenzie and/or Curran, were rejected by two sheriffs after Mr Sinclair and some of his witnesses – on police advice – filmed their actions.
‘One of the worst’
Mr Sinclair and Ms McKenzie had been in a relationship for four years and had been separated for around 15 years.
He told the court “there has been nothing but issues with Katie and her mother Carolann Curran” throughout that period.
Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith described the history of McKenzie’s action as “One of the worst I have ever encountered.”
Sheriff Paul Brown said Curran’s case was “devoid of merit.”
Dismissing that case, Sheriff Brown awarded Mr Sinclair double expenses due to Curran’s conduct, which he described as “extremely challenging and at times designed to prolong proceedings.”
He added: “These were important proceedings for the defenders, facing multiple allegations accompanied by relentless and unrestrained personal attacks.”
Those attacks, he said, included unwarranted intrusions by Curran into the personal lives of witnesses and added there were unrestrained attacks on Mr Sinclair who was characterised as a “narcissist”, and a “control freak” who would “go doolally with rage” if questioned.
“There was an egregious intrusion into the personal life of the second defender (Ms McIntosh) laced with 42 scandalous suggestions,” Sheriff Brown said.
In her court action, McKenzie had sought a writ aiming to prevent Mr Sinclair from molesting her by intimidating, harassing, bullying or verbally abusing her, placing her into a state of fear, alarm and distress, while she also craved a power of arrest as well as a non-harassment order.
Both had also sought damages of £10,000.
‘Baby Reindeer’
Solicitor Stephen Forsyth, acting for Mr Sinclair, successfully submitted that after the sheriff had heard the evidence for McKenzie, he could conclude there was no real prospect of success and there was no reason to listen to the defender’s case as the burden of proof was on the pursuer.
In his decision, Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith said that having considered all the evidence, he would grant decree of absolvitor in favour of Mr Sinclair.
Following the judgments, Mr Sinclair said: “I am delighted that these matters are over and that I have been cleared of any wrongdoing and vindicated that Ms Carolann Curran and my convicted stalker Miss Katie McKenzie are, in actual fact, harassing me.
“What they have put my family and me through for 15 years makes Baby Reindeer [the hit Netflix show about a comedian and his female stalker] pale to insignificance.”
Mr Forsyth, his lawyer, said: “I am delighted to have successfully defended these actions for my client, which lasted five years and three years respectively.
“Being accused of harassment is a serious matter and can have significant consequences.
“My client’s position from the start was that the cases were an act of revenge, evidenced by Miss McKenzie who raised her claim within 48 hours of her own Non-Harassment Order coming to an end for harassing my client and were a vehicle for this mother and daughter to continue their campaign of harassment.
“The decisions of the court appear to totally vindicate that.”
Carolann Curran has appealed Sheriff Paul Brown’s decision.
