A jealous boyfriend who threatened to post on social media that his partner had a sexually transmitted infection has been jailed.
James Sherry called his girlfriend a “s****** and a s***” before making the threat and then grabbed her mobile phone.
With a previous partner, Sherry also threw a vacuum cleaner from a window in a jealous rage.
When that woman locked him out, he used the electrical appliance to smash a window at the property, Inverness Sheriff Court heard.
Sherry, 21, appeared via video link and admitted to two charges of threatening or abusive behaviour towards his now-ex-partners in 2022 and last year.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir said that Sherry and his first victim had been in a “casual relationship” for a short period, when he visited her home in Perth on September 14 2022.
He said: “There was a disagreement which seemed to stem from his jealousy that she may be involved with another man.
‘He threw a Hoover out of an open window’ and later used the vacuum cleaner to smash a window
“The accused referred to her as a s*** and a w****. He threw a Hoover out of an open window.”
Mr Weir said Sherry then left the address, but returned in the early hours of the following morning and began “banging on the door and the windows, asking to be let in”.
He then picked up the vacuum cleaner he had previously thrown from the window and used it to smash a ground-floor window.
Police were called and Sherry was arrested.
Mr Weir told Sheriff Gary Aitken that on February 18 last year, Sherry became involved in an argument with another partner at an address in Dingwall.
The disagreement that began around 7am was “a result of some jealousy about a previous partner”.
The fiscal depute told the court: “He referred to her as a s*** and a s*****.”
‘Chaotic’ James Sherry had been drinking and ‘dabbling’ in illicit substances
He said: “He became aggressive with her, thereafter threatening to cause her harm.
“Matters deteriorated further and he said that he would put on social media that the witness had a sexually transmitted disease.”
Refusing to leave the property, Sherry grabbed the woman’s mobile phone and refused to give it back, becoming aggressive, shouting and swearing.
The pair moved into the woman’s kitchen where Sherry hit a wall and damaged the plasterboard.
Police were contacted and Sherry left the property but was later arrested.
Solicitor Rory Gowans, defending Sherry, said his client “did not deal with difficulties within his relationships particularly well”.
He added that Sherry’s life was “chaotic” at the time of the crimes, as he had been drinking and “dabbling” in illicit substances.
“He wishes to convey his unreserved apologies,” Mr Gowans told the court.
Sheriff Aitken sentenced Sherry, of Mansfield Estate in Tain, to 12 months in jail for each incident.
The sentences will be served at the same time and both were backdated to March 24 of this year.
The sheriff also imposed non-harassment orders that forbid Sherry from approaching or contacting the two women for 18 months.
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