A man has been jailed after admitting stalking a woman in Inverness.
Lee Blackburn bombarded his victim with social media messages and damaged her car over a course of a few days in January.
The 39-year-old, a prisoner at HMP Barlinnie, admitted a single charge of engaging in a course of conduct that caused fear and alarm to Arleen Mackay.
The offence took place between January 13 and 15 this year at various locations in Inverness.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart said the victim had been introduced to Blackburn through a boyfriend of Ms Mackay and the two had become friends.
Ms Mackay even visited Blackburn when he was in prison on a previous offence – but Mr Urquhart said they were “nothing more than friends”.
The court heard that Blackburn had been released from prison in late December and began to exchange “effectively innocuous” messages with Ms Mackay.
However, the fiscal said the “tone” of the contact changed on January 13 when a series of “insulting and abusive” messages were sent after 11.30pm, including a number of “derogatory remarks” about Ms Mackay.
Among the messages was one which read: “I hate you with all my heart”.
The following evening she received further messages, saying that Ms Mackay’s “new man will be getting a kicking”.
He also threatened to cause damage to Ms Mackay’s car.
The following morning on January 15 Ms Mackay found that the rear windscreen wiper of her car, parked near her home in Huntly Street, had been snapped off and an empty condom packet had been placed on the front windscreen.
Mr Urquhart said that evening Ms Mackay received a further message saying “You’re messing with the wrong person”.
Shortly afterwards a neighbour saw someone in Ms Mackay’s garden.
Police found Blackburn nearby but he was released after being searched.
However, he was seen again soon afterwards with a cut on his shin and he was taken into custody after signs were found that someone had fallen near Ms Mackay’s background.
Blackburn’s solicitor Graham Mann said alcohol was an “underlying issue” with his client and that the abusive messages had been sent after drink had been taken.
He described the friendship between Blackburn and Ms Mackay as “platonic”.
He added: “There seems at one point to have been a romantic encounter and he thought that the landscape had moved and she didn’t.”
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood jailed Blackburn for 16 months and also placed him under a non-harassment order for three years, with instructions not to make contact with Ms Mackay or approach her address in Huntly Street.
