A “heartbroken” Moray man who refused to accept his relationship was over stalked his ex-girlfriend for almost nine months using various apps.
Daniel Mann resorted to sending messages via the exercise-tracking app Strava after she failed to reply to countless others via Facebook, Twitter and email, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
The 40-year-old ignored police warnings not to contact her, sending an email in which he apologised for not moving on and being such a “selfish b******”.
Fiscal depute Shamiela Ghafar said the messages persisted from March 1 to September this year.
‘He was heartbroken’
She said: “The complainer ended the relationship and the accused took it badly as he was heartbroken.
“He never became abusive but he would not listen to repeated requests from the woman to stop contacting her.
“He would send emails from slightly different addresses in order to ensure she would receive them and not simply block the address.
“He also sent messages on Facebook, Strava and Twitter.
“She made new profiles for various online apps to stop him from getting to her.
“The messages were never abusive. They were saying how much he loved her, apologising, saying how much he missed her and hoped for another opportunity with her.”
Used bank transfer to send message
The messages worried the woman, though, and she called the police in May 2021.
However, a further message was included in a £10 bank transfer to her account in October 2021.
There was then an almost year-long reprieve before Mann made contact again, this time sending an email in September 2022.
“She received another email from him which was along the same lines as many others and was mainly apologising to her,” Miss Ghafar added.
“However, she found it distressing and called the police.”
When interviewed by officers Mann admitted he was having difficulty accepting the relationship was over.
He told them that following a bereavement he chose to send the final message.
“I wanted to tell her how much of a selfish b****** I had been by not getting help to move on, and apologise,” Mann told them.
He admitted one charge of stalking.
Ordered to stay away from victim
Defence agent Grant Dalglish said his client, who works full time, “accepts his culpability”.
“The last message is him trying to apologise but he accepts he shouldn’t have sent it,” the solicitor added.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov ordered Mann, of High Street, Buckie, to keep away from the woman for three years and placed him on a structured deferred sentence for six months to allow him to remain of good behaviour.
