A man who bombarded his ex-girlfriend with threatening texts and said he wanted to kill her new lover has been jailed for two years.
Gary Mackay told Briona-Leigh MacKinnon he wanted to stab Steven Jobes and armed himself with a knife before going looking for him.
He got to within feet of Mr Jobes as he worked a fryer in the kitchen of the Newton Hotel in Nairn – but abandoned his plan to attack him at the last moment.
Twenty-nine-year-old Mackay admitted sending offensive and menacing messages which threatened both Mr Jobes and Miss MacKinnon when he appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court.
The court was told he never got over the break-up of their relationship in July, and on the night he went to the hotel he began sending texts and voicemails to his ex.
One read: “Honestly, I want to kill Steven. Don’t blame yourself.”
A voicemail contained another message: “I have lost it, to be honest. Don’t blame yourself. It is not your fault. It is me. I don’t know what I am doing. It is too late.”
Mackay said he was drunk and then phoned back a second time, leaving another voicemail: “My heart is going like the clappers. I am outside the Newton Hotel and I am all tooled up.”
But fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told the court: “A few minutes later, he sent another text message saying ‘I got as far as the kitchen door. I could see him at the fryer. But I couldn’t do it. I threw the blade in the bushes. No one deserves to die’.
“Miss MacKinnon contacted Mr Jobes fearing for his safety before receiving another text from Mackay saying ‘I am home and wasted. But at least I am home’.”
The knife he had been carrying on September 23 was later recovered by the police.
Sheriff David Sutherland told Mackay: “In any view, this must have been a very frightening experience for these two people.
“Any messages like this from someone who is carrying a weapon will be treated by the court as something more serious than the actions of someone else who has simply been thwarted in love.”
Mackay, who is from Nairn but was described in court papers as a prisoner at Inverness, was also placed on a supervised release order for two years.
A non-harassment order was put in place to protect Miss MacKinnon and Mr Jobes.
Mackay’s agent, solicitor Duncan Henderson, told the court: “My client now accepts the relationship is over. Thankfully, no one was injured as a result. He co-operated with the police and the court process by pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.
“His last text message was that he was out of his mind and he was not thinking in a sensible and coherent manner at the time.”
Last night, the manager of Inverness Women’s Aid said staff recognised text and social media threats as a form of domestic abuse.
Catherine Russell added: “We would urge anybody who thinks they are being threatened like that to get in touch both with Women’s Aid and the police.
“Our advice would be to keep all the messages as evidence for the police and not to ignore anything you are uncomfortable with.
“We would also recommend changing phone numbers, though I realise that is not something that everyone is going to be comfortable with, as it can cut off the rest of a support network.
“We are very supportive of any efforts to clamp down on abuse like this, which is not acceptable to anyone.”