A mum was forced to call the police at 3am after discovering her ex-partner clambering up a ladder outside her home.
Robert Stewart turned up at his ex’s Lossiemouth address, where she lived with their children, and tried to open the doors before grabbing a ladder to gain entry from an upstairs window.
The frightened woman immediately called police and when they turned up – around five hours later – Stewart was long gone.
Elgin Sheriff Court was told his partner heard the 30-year-old shouting and swearing and accusing her of having another male inside the property on September 12 2021.
Fiscal depute Sharon Ralph said Stewart’s victim was woken from sleep by a series of phonecalls from him.
Heard clunk of metal ladder
“She ignored the calls and didn’t engage,” Mrs Ralph said. “But a short time later she heard him outside her home. She could hear him making accusations that there was another male inside the property.”
Stewart could then be heard trying various door handles to gain access before he grabbed a metal ladder from the rear of the house and placed it against the wall of the building.
“She believed he may have attempted to gain entry to her bedroom window had she not been awake,” Mrs Ralph added.
His alarming behaviour was also witnessed by a neighbour, who awoke to the sound of the metal ladder being hauled around the back garden.
Police arrived five hours later
When police arrived at the scene at around 8am Stewart was gone but he was traced after “multiple attempts”.
Stewart admitted to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and to breaching an existing bail condition to keep away from his ex-partner.
Defence agent Matthew O’Neill said Stewart was so concerned about another man being inside the house that “he wanted to find out what was going on”.
The solicitor said: “The breakdown in their relationship had taken a heavy toll on both parties because there’s a number of children involved.
‘He wanted to find out what was going on’
“A number of hours before this incident information had been passed to him that another male had been in his former home with his former partner and his children.
“He wanted to find out what was going on.
“Given his children were present within he was extremely concerned about what may be occurring at the address.”
Mr O’Neill added that Stewart is now “getting on with his life in a sensible fashion” and is an “attentive and supportive father” to his children.
Sheriff Olga Parportnikov ordered Stewart, of Gordon Street, New Elgin, to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work.