A NORTH-EAST man accused of stalking and abducting his ex-girlfriend at knifepoint walked free from court yesterday.
Jamie Findlay’s family said “justice has been done” after a jury returned verdicts of not proven on two of the most serious charges he faced.
It was an emotional end to a “tense” week-long trial at Peterhead Sheriff Court.
A jury of eight women and seven men took just over an hour to decide that the Crown had failed to prove that Findlay, 26, had stalked his on-off partner for more than a year and, in the early hours of March 9 last year, abducted her from outside her home by getting into her car and holding a knife at her throat while she drove.
It was alleged that his ex, 21-year-old Abbigail Stephen, was so alarmed that she jumped from the moving vehicle. The jury found Findlay, of Peterhead, guilty of setting fire to Miss Stephen’s car – something he admitted when he gave evidence last week.
He told the court he had driven the car to Longhaven Quarry, on the outskirts of Peterhead, stuffed banknotes into the petrol tank opening and tried to light them.
It was an attempt to take his own life, Findlay said.
He was also convicted of breaking court-imposed bail conditions by resuming a relationship with Miss Stephen between April and November last year.
Sheriff Alison Stirling admonished him on both counts after hearing he had been remanded in custody since late November.
She said he had already served the equivalent of an eight-month sentence. “To sentence you to that amount today would be disproportionate,” she said.
“In the exceptional circumstances of this case, I will take into account the four months you have already spent in custody and take it that this has served as a warning to you.”
She rejected a motion by fiscal depute David Bernard to impose a harassment order against Findlay, stopping him from going near Miss Stephen.
“There is no basis for that,” she said.
The sheriff added that the trial had been a “very sensitive and tense case for all involved”.
Findlay was met by a crowd of jubilant friends and family members when he was released from custody last night.
His mother, Fiona Findlay, 43, said: “We are very pleased that the jury came back with the right verdict. Justice has been done.
“We are all very happy this is over. Our family has been put through months of hurt and turmoil because of this.”
Findlay’s agent, solicitor John McLeod, said his client’s life had taken a “dramatically different turn” when he met Miss Stephen in early 2012.
The court heard that the pair had resumed their tempestuous relationship just weeks after the alleged abduction.
Miss Stephen said she had accepted a marriage proposal from Findlay and later became pregnant with his child.
The pair took steps to keep their rekindled romance a secret from the police, the court heard. But in November last year, Miss Stephen told the procurator fiscal in Peterhead that Findlay had broken his bail order by returning to her.
Mr McLeod said: “It was like Abbie was holding a gun to his head for several months and eventually – for whatever reason – she decided to pull the trigger and he lost his liberty.”
He said that imposing a harassment order against his client would be like handing Miss Stephen a loaded weapon.
Miss Stephen had alleged that Findlay got into her Ford Fiesta outside her Peterhead home in the early hours of March 9. When she told him she was going to drive to the police station, he pulled a knife and held it to her throat, she claimed.
She said she had been so scared that she jumped from the car as it was moving at 40-50mph along South Road.
Findlay said she had agreed to let him into the car that morning.
He told the court he saw a knife in her handbag on the floor of the car.
They began to argue about it, he said, and that was when she left the vehicle.
He claimed the hatchback was moving at “walking speed”.
Police later traced the car using a tracking app on Miss Stephen’s iPhone, which was on the passenger seat.