A stalker who hounded a love interest she met online with home visits, calls and even a Cliff Richard song was “seeking closure” after he dumped her, a court has been told.
Rebecca Murphy’s “strange behaviour” included phoning the man 64 times in one day, shining a torch through his letterbox and sitting outside his house for hours on end.
The qualified nurse, who had been on four dates with the man during their on-off relationship, also posted her house keys and mobile phone through his letterbox and then texted him to say “I left my keys and phone at yours”.
Fiscal depute Jennifer Pritchard told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the pair had shared a few dates having met on a dating site in early 2021 but “weren’t in a relationship”.
The offences were committed between October 10 and 22 last year and sometimes prompted the man to hide inside his Aberdeen home.
The court was told how on October 10, at around 8.30pm, she turned up at his flat on Union Grove and began playing Cliff Richard’s song Congratulations through the letterbox.
The chart hit – which was the UK’s entry in Eurovision Song Contest in 1968 – is also the song that is played in Frankie and Benny’s restaurants during birthday celebrations.
The court was told the pair had previously dined at Frankie and Benny’s and the purpose of the serenade was to remind him of the date.
Ms Pritchard said the man found this “strange behaviour” and text her saying his brother was visiting and she should leave.
The following day she visited again and left when he didn’t answer the door.
On October 12 she returned again, this time trying the door handle and shining a light through the letter box before texting to ask where he was.
The man lied, saying he was out at his brother’s, but when he went to leave 45 minutes later found her sitting on his steps.
He told her this was “inappropriate behaviour” and asked her to leave but arranged to meet her later in the week in order to “discuss things”.
However the night before this meeting, on October 16, she sent him numerous WhatsApp texts and then 16 Facebook messages in the space of 25 minutes.
Put off by this, he cancelled their planned restaurant booking and instead ended the relationship and blocked her number.
But between 9.37am and 9.37pm on October 19 he received 64 calls from a private number. He answered the 64th call and refused Murphy’s request for a chat.
This sparked her two-hour vigil outside his home from 5.30pm to 7.30pm the following day.
The strange behaviour came to a head on October 22 when Murphy posted her own mobile phone and car keys through the man’s letterbox.
She then sent him a message on LinkedIn saying: “Hey, I left my keys and phone at your and I am locked out of my apartment. Could you message me on Facebook or something and get them to me asap?”
Posted phone through his door
The items were found on the doormat when the man was allowing a police officer into his flat to take a statement.
Around the same time, Murphy herself reported the man to police for “not responding to her requests to return her car keys and phone”.
The first offender admitted a stalking charge.
Defence agent Caitlin Pirie said the full-time Robert Gordon University radiography student was seeking closure after the man ended their relationship “abruptly” twice.
She added: “She takes full responsibility for her behaviour. It was not her intention to case fear or alarm but she looks back now and knows that the contact was unwanted.
“Her intention here really was to obtain closure in this relationship but unfortunately the way she went about that was not appropriate.”
‘Distress caused was not intended’
Sheriff Andrew Miller said that although the “distress” caused was not intended “the behaviour described clearly had an upsetting effect”.
“You have clearly spent your time in a positive way completing your nursing degree and now embarking on another degree in the general field of medicine,” he said.
“These offences arose by you dealing with this situation in a misjudged way but you have sought to address the thought patterns and process that may have influenced your behaviour.”
He admonished Murphy, of Schoolhill, Aberdeen, but put in place a one-year non-harassment order preventing her from contacting the man.
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