Inverness man jailed after bombarding estranged wife with messages and phone calls

A 28-year-old Inverness man who bombarded his estranged wife with 238 messages and phone calls in the hope of a reconciliation was jailed for six months yesterday.

Steven Coffey, of Woodlands Place, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner between November 20 and 23 last year as well as two breaches of special bail conditions not to contact his spouse.

Sentence had been deferred last month for a background report on Coffey after Inverness Sheriff Court was told that his pleas to his wife were rejected.

The court heard that although some of the messages were expressions of love and an effort to reconcile, others were “unpleasant.”

Defence solicitor Rory Gowans said: “The catalyst for this was the break-up of his four-year marriage. He did not cope well with the split and sent these messages a week after they parted.

“He was trying to reconcile.”

Mr Gowans insisted there had been “nothing sinister” about the calls, but Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood jailed Coffey and imposed a non-harassment order to protect his wife.

He told him: “She wants nothing to do with you, so get that into your head.”