A north-east man who messaged his former partner after being ordered not to contact her has been spared jail.
Michael Gray had been in a relationship with Jill Rush for 20 years, but after they broke up he struggled to come to terms with it.
He began to stalk her and his erratic behaviour eventually led to him being convicted of an act of wilful fireraising against her.
He was jailed for that offence for 22 months, and in May 2016 he was ordered not to make any effort to approach her when he appeared in Elgin Sheriff Court.
But on May 29 this year, police visited him at his home on King Street, Aberdeen and asked to check his phone as part of the non-harassment order.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard yesterday that they discovered a series of e-mails to Miss Rush from a seven-day period earlier that month.
Gray, 57, previously admitted breaching the order and appeared in court yesterday for sentencing.
The court heard previously that Miss Rush had not contacted police about the incident.
Representing Gray, defence agent Gail Goodfellow said he had issues to confront such as his excessive alcohol use.
She also said that despite being out of work he would be able to pay a fine as he had just received a cheque of £1,400 from PPI.
Imposing a sentence, Sheriff Philip Mann said: “I am persuaded I can deal with this by a fine particularly because it appears she was not concerned enough for her own position that she contacted the police.”
He fined him £800.
