A serial stalker who previously served jail time for hassling women has landed himself back in the dock after abusing his partner.
Lee Blackburn was heavily intoxicated when he tried to force his way into a house in Inverness by kicking the door of the property in Glendoe Terrace on November 11 2023.
The 47-year-old drunken thug had earlier told his partner that he was going to the pub but failed to return when he said he would.
After the woman messaged him saying she was locking the doors and going to bed, Blackburn turned up and became violent.
At Inverness Sheriff Court, he later pled guilty to a charge of threatening or abusive behaviour.
Domestic abuser Lee Blackburn was ‘agitated and aggressive’ during disturbance
Fiscal depute Sharon Ralph told the court that Blackburn’s helpless partner had to turn to the police for help.
“She repeatedly told him she wanted him to stop but he became increasingly agitated and aggressive. He struck the door window several times with his keys.
“She opened the door and told him to leave. He tried to get in but she pushed him out.
“The police were called and she asked officers to tell him to leave and that he could return in the morning when he was sober.”
The court heard that, although he left the scene, he returned a short time later and was again abusive towards his victim.
Lee Blackburn’s long history of hounding women who don’t want him
Defence solicitor Graham Mann said: “There was no excuse for his behaviour. He has a long record which does him no favours but it is his intention for the relationship to continue”.
Sheriff Nigel Cooke ordered Blackburn, of Kirkside in Alness, to carry out 180 hours of unpaid community work as an alternative to a custodial sentence.
The repeat offender was also placed under two years of social work supervision.
But Blackburn has been in and out of courts for many years.
In April 2016, he was jailed for 16 months after admitting to stalking a woman in Inverness by bombarding her with messages and damaging her car.
‘I hate you with all my heart’
One message read: “I hate you with all my heart” and another threatened that her “new man will be getting a kicking”.
She later discovered the rear windscreen wiper of her car one morning had been snapped off and an empty condom packet placed on the front windscreen.
That evening, she received a further message, reading: “You’re messing with the wrong person”.
In August 2019, Blackburn appeared in court after causing an Aberdeen mum to feel fear and alarm by stalking the terrorised woman for months while turning up to wherever she was without invitation.
For that, he was given the non-custodial sentence of a four-month house arrest between the hours of 7pm and 6am and enrolled on a domestic abuse offender course.
He was also placed under the supervision of social workers and banned from approaching his victim, her home, or her place of work for two years.
Then in January 2020, Blackburn was spared a prison sentence after bombarding a Moray woman with unwanted texts and phone calls for nearly two months.
He had repeatedly sent messages to the female he met through a dating website – even after ending the relationship himself – and was spotted sitting in his car near her Elgin home on occasions.
The troubling behaviour earned Blackburn 300 hours of unpaid work, an order to pay £300 compensation and a three-year non-harassment order was also imposed.
In May 2021, a court heard that Blackburn had continued to send love letters and make apologetic phone calls to his then-latest victim, despite being in prison at the time.
He admitted the offence of stalking and was jailed for five months by a sheriff, who reduced a 12-month sentence by seven months to take account of the time Blackburn had already spent on remand.
A three-year non-harassment order to protect the woman was also imposed on Blackburn at the time.
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