A sex offender who stalked a medical student he believed was his wife is to be confined to a hospital and assessed for a mental disorder.
Jon Coltart terrified the University of Aberdeen student by sending her sinister messages about Satan and claiming they were married and in a sexual relationship.
The 40-year-old used a photograph of the woman as his Facebook profile picture and posted about her being “beautiful” and that he was “so proud of her”.
He even claimed on social media that the pair had been married between 2007 and 2010 when he was a surgeon in Glenrothes.
Coltart sent numerous unsolicited messages to her over a nine-month period despite having never actually met his victim.
After being held in custody for a year, awaiting a mental health assessment, he is to be confined to a medical facility for the required tests.
Stalker is a high-risk sex offender
Coltart was eventually arrested after turning up at the Foresterhill medical campus in a highly excited state, saying he wanted to pay the woman a “surprise visit”.
Appearing at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on April 21 last year, Coltart pleaded guilty to causing the woman to suffer fear and alarm between June 19 2021 and March 24 2022.
He has previous convictions for sexual offences dating back to 2011 and was described by Police Scotland as a high-risk sex offender.
On Friday, the court decided that Coltart must undergo an assessment during a period of hospital detention to determine if he suffers from a mental disorder.
The assessment will also consider whether he poses a risk to himself or the public before he will be sentenced by a sheriff.
Fiscal depute Alan Townsend told the court at the first hearing that Coltart’s victim received a notification to her email account alerting her to a message from him.
“The subject heading was ‘marriage’ and the message itself said ‘Hi xxxx00xx’.
“When she got home, she saw she had three messages from the accused with the subject heading ‘so proud of you’ and the message read ‘congratulations on all the new hospitals in Scotland’ and ‘well done, beautiful. So happy and proud of you’.”
Mr Townsend said Coltart sent the woman a further message, reading, “I’m all yours”, which alarmed her.
He added: “She was concerned that he was obsessed with her and that the behaviour might escalate from online to try and meet her in person, so she reported the matter to police.”
Coltart then posted a Facebook message stating the pair were married in 2007 and that they were living together and in a sexual relationship.
He also used her LinkedIn social media profile picture as his Facebook profile picture.
The tone of Coltart’s messages escalated around June 19 2021, when he mentioned “suicide”, “fire” and “Satan”.
Coltart appeared at woman’s workplace
On March 24 last year, Coltart approached a receptionist at The Suttie Centre within the Aberdeen hospital campus “acting hyper” and demanded to speak to the student, claiming that she was his ex-wife.
He told the receptionist it was a “surprise visit”.
Mr Townsend said: “The receptionist felt that he was up to no good and notified security”.
Coltart then left but later appeared at the security desk of the Polwarth Building at the site and again demanded to “speak with his wife”.
The woman was notified that the man had turned up and was claiming to be her husband and she then contacted the police.
Coltart wasn’t traced but CCTV footage from the building was seized and a couple of days later he was arrested at his home in Glenrothes.
Coltart had delusional, confused thoughts
Representing himself at each of his court appearances, Coltart often displayed delusional, confused thoughts.
He once claimed that he couldn’t have been responsible for any of his crimes because he and his “wife” were “both living in Chicago” at the time.
It was established by Sheriff Andrew Miller, who personally intervened in the case, that Coltart believed he was living with his wife and the TV programme character Dr House.
At the time, Sheriff Miller described a wait for a suitable hospital bed for Coltart as “very unfortunate”.
Now, a new decision by Sheriff Sean Lynch will see Coltart confined to a medical facility as part of an interim compulsion order to find out if he suffers from a genuine mental disorder.
The conclusion of the assessment will determine whether Coltart can serve a period of imprisonment or requires further psychiatric care.
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