A man terrorised a total stranger by bombarding her with phone calls after seeing her picture on the internet.
Infatuated Craig Emerson’s victim was left “feeling sick” and pleaded with him to stop contacting her as he put her through a six-week ordeal.
He appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted putting the 20-year-old university student in a state of fear or alarm and 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”.
The court heard the 26-year-old, of 33 Strathspey Avenue, Aviemore, contacted his victim after seeing a photograph of her on a friend’s social media site.
Fiscal depute Michelle Molley said the young woman did not know Emerson and had been left “extremely distressed” by the calls.
She said: “He has seen her, or at least a photograph of her, from a Facebook page. This was not done with her consent.”
Emerson first made contact with his victim’s mobile phone in the early hours of Saturday, December 7, 2013 when he withheld his number.
Ms Molley said that the woman told Emerson she did not know him, but he “started speaking to her in a sexual manner”.
She said: “He told her he was touching himself and was thinking about her. He said she had a good body and made comments about her breasts.”
Ms Molley added: “She said she felt sick and repeatedly asked who was calling her.”
Emerson called the student another five times on the same day, but she did not answer.
He attempted to make contact on three more occasions on December 9, 2013, and four times on December 18.
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.
The following day the woman handed her phone to police, who launched an investigation.
Emerson was detained by officers in Aviemore on May 1, 2014, after tests on the device revealed the calls had come from him.
Ms Molley told Sheriff Derek Livingston that Emerson made “full admissions” about his behaviour.
He told the police he was in a relationship with another woman, and when asked about his link to his victim he replied: “I wouldn’t say that I know her, more that I know her name.”
When asked why he had made the calls, Emerson said: “I suppose you could say this was a relapse. I have previously been convicted of a similar offence.”
He also told officers he had been receiving counselling and was “intoxicated” when he made the phone calls.
Sheriff Livingston provisionally added Emerson to the sex offenders register and deferred sentence until February 26 for background reports.
