A man who put a woman through a six-week terror ordeal by bombarding her with sexually explicit phone calls escaped jail yesterday.
The 20-year-old university student, who was a total stranger to infatuated Craig Emerson, was left “feeling sick” and pleaded with him to stop contacting her with the sexually explicit messages.
Emerson, who had been convicted of a similar offence before, contacted his victim after seeing her picture on the internet.
He appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday for sentence and was ordered to take part in programmes to help rehabilitate him and also to carry out the maximum 300 hours of community service as an alternative to jail. He was placed on the sex offenders register and ordered to participate in a sex offenders programme and undertake treatment for alcohol and drug problems.
Emerson, 26, of 33 Strathspey Avenue, Aviemore, admitted putting the woman in a state of fear or alarm by making sexually explicit remarks to her.
Emerson called the young woman 41 times and when he was tracked down by police he revealed he had been convicted of a similar offence in the past and had suffered a “relapse”.
Defence agent Eilidh Macdonald said: “It is a worrying and a serious offence, but I would urge the court to adopt the recommendations of the background report. He will benefit from the help of different programmes where people would work with him for an extended period.
“Very little work would be done with him if he got a prison sentence.”
Sheriff Derek Livingston told Emerson: “You should not be under any illusion that if you offend in this way again, you could go away for quite a long time after appearing in a higher court. If I imposed a prison sentence now, you would be released in a few months. By placing you on a community payback order, people will work with you.”
The court heard Emerson contacted the woman after seeing a photograph of her on a friend’s social media site.
Fiscal depute Michelle Molley said she had been left “extremely distressed” by the calls.
Emerson first made contact with his victim’s mobile phone in the early hours of Saturday, December 7, 2013, when he withheld his number.
In total he called her 41 times between December 7, 2013, and January 23, 2014, but she only answered her phone on the first occasion and the last. On the final call the victim “pleaded for him to stop calling her”, Ms Molley said.