A man who set fire to a property and then called 999 also tormented two ex-girlfriends with sinister threats, a court has heard.
James Marshall torched an address in Conon Bridge before making the emergency call and when officers turned up they found he was carrying a knife in his backpack.
Marshall also turned up at an ex’s home, banging his head on the window and threatening to smash up her car.
He also hounded another former partner so much that she felt compelled to change her daily routines and place of work to avoid him.
The 31-year-old appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit charges of wilful fireraising, having a knife in a public place, engaging in a course of behaviour that was abusive of one ex and threatening or abusive behaviour to another.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair told the court that on New Year’s Day 2022 Marshall turned up at the home of a former partner and began “headbanging” on her window and making threats to smash up her car.
On the same day, he split from his then-partner as a result of his “intoxicated behaviour” that was causing the woman “anxiety and fear”.
‘Threats of violence’
“The separation was to the dislike of the accused who thereafter made threats of violence towards the witness and her property,” said Mrs Gair.
In the weeks that followed Marshall followed the woman after she got off a bus, leaving her “shaken”, and turned up uninvited at her home while she was celebrating her birthday, repeatedly knocking on the door and refusing to leave when asked.
He put a package through her letterbox, which she immediately returned, and later messaged her despite her pleas to be left alone.
“The witness at that time was scared and in tears of fear for her safety,” the fiscal depute told Sheriff Sara Matheson.
The woman continued to see Marshall at various locations around Conon Bridge and Dingwall after which he intimated to her that he had been watching her.
Fearful ex altered daily routine
She blocked Marshall on social media and “took measures to alter her daily routine and place of work” to avoid him, but later received another attempt from Marshall to add her on social media.
On one occasion CCTV camera’s caught Marshall entering the woman’s garden uninvited and walking around her home.
On February 1 of 2022 emergency services received a call from Marshall reporting a fire at an address in Windsor Place, Conon Bridge.
He told call handlers that “the alarm was sounding and fire was coming out of the letterbox” adding that the man who lived there was “unaccounted for”.
Police and firefighters attended and forced entry to the property before extinguishing the fire, which was assessed to have started at the letterbox.
Marshall was subsequently arrested and a search revealed he was carrying a knife in his backpack.
Solicitor Douglas McAllister asked Sheriff Matheson to call for pre-sentencing reports, which she did.
The case will call again next month, with Marshall, of Mackay Road, Inverness, remaining on bail in the meantime.
