A man who waged a campaign of fear against his former partner in a series of threatening voicemail messages has been remanded in custody.
Stephen Cronin told the woman he would “terrorise the life out of” her after she refused to take his calls when he was released from prison.
The 26-year-old also bombarded the woman’s friends with messages from a Facebook account and even visited her workplace in Arbroath in his effort to make contact with her.
At Forfar sheriff court on Thursday, Cronin, a prisoner at Perth, admitted an indictment alleging a course of conduct on various dates in which he threatened the woman and her friends with violence and attempted to establish her whereabouts.
Depute fiscal Hannah Kennedy said the pair had been in a relationship for around four years but in June last year the woman had been moved from her home by police and social workers following an assault.
She had rarely heard from Cronin, who was in prison, but in April this year he started to contact her through Facebook.
Cronin also contacted the woman’s sister and as matters escalated the content of voicemail messages became more sinister.
The court heard the victim switched her phone off in an attempt to avoid contact by the accused, who continued to phone her friends.
In one message, Cronin said: “Tell her I’ll be here sooner than she thinks and I will find her.”
Eventually the woman became so fearful she contacted police and efforts to trace Cronin involved police in Lancashire, Merseyside, Angus and Aberdeenshire.
The court heard the complainer admitted speaking to Cronin, but denied any form of relationship and was trying to keep the peace because she was “petrified of the accused”.
Cronin’s agent said the offence involved “an unusual course of events” and he said there were eight pages of mobile phone records showing “friendly communication” between the pair.
“He spent a day with her in July before handing himself in to police that evening,” he told the court.
Sheriff Gregor Murray said: “Whilst I suspect there is an inevitability over the outcome, I want to have a report prepared. This appears to have come out of the blue.”
He continued the case until November 13.