A Deeside stalker acted like he was in a romantic relationship with a woman he repeatedly contacted and even delivered pizza to her home.
Charles McCombie, 69, bombarded his victim with messages and invited himself over to her home in the middle of the night.
When she rejected him, McCombie’s interactions turned sinister – with him following her to a park and picking up her dog.
McCombie then became verbally abusive, hurling disgusting and derogatory terms as he accused the woman of being sexually promiscuous.
Sentencing McCombie, a sheriff ordered him to stay away from his stalking victim and warned the offender he could be jailed if he ignored the court order.
‘Obsessed’ McCombie arrived at woman’s door with boxes of pizza
Fiscal depute Brooklyn Shaw told the court that, at the beginning of this year, the woman had become increasingly concerned that McCombie was “obsessed” with her and her whereabouts.
He would frequently message her, stating he had been at her house looking for her.
McCombie and the woman had been friends since 2023, but she had made it clear to him they were not in a relationship, the fiscal depute said.
Over the New Year period, the woman was staying at her partner’s address when she received a text message from McCombie asking where she was as her car was not outside her house.
The woman was alarmed at the thought of McCombie loitering outside her property when she wasn’t there.
On another occasion, McCombie turned up at the woman’s partner’s workplace and began talking to him about her, stating that she hadn’t been replying to his messages.
In February this year, the woman was at her home when she heard a knock at the door and found McCombie standing outside with two pizza boxes.
When she tried to shut the door, McCombie put his foot in the door – preventing her from being able to close it.
She shouted at him to leave and he threw the pizzas on the ground and fled the scene.
Soon after, the woman changed her telephone number because of McCombie’s unsettling behaviour.
Woman believed accused knocked on her door through the night
At 3am on February 22 this year, police officers caught McCombie outside the woman’s home.
When officers asked him what he was doing there, he replied that he was seeing if the complainer’s car was there.
Around 11am on February 26, McCombie messaged the woman asking if she would come to her back door in 10 minutes or suggested he could pick her up to talk.
The fiscal depute explained: “He stated that he would only tell her what he wanted to talk about if he could come inside her house or if she got into his car.
“The accused then sent her further messages referring to her being with other men.”
At 7pm the same day, McCombie sent a message asking if she wanted him to come around that evening.
The woman later heard knocking on her front door at 9pm, 10.30pm and at midnight, however, she did not respond.
Between 12.30am and 5am, she received around a dozen messages claiming that she had other men in the house.
Among those were messages that called her a “slut” and made reference to her having multiple sexual partners within her property.
On another occasion in later February, the woman took her dog for a walk and it became lost from view.
McCombie then appeared suddenly holding her dog in his arms.
When she asked him to leave, he shouted and swore, before sending further offensive messages.
The woman then contacted the police.
In the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, McCombie pled guilty to one charge of behaving in a course of conduct that caused his victim fear and alarm by stalking her.
Defence solicitor Willie McKay described his client as a “relatively solitary person” whose involvement in relationships had been “fairly sparse”.
“You get the impression he doesn’t deal with these situations very often,” the solicitor said.
“He was befriended by the complainer who had a relationship with him, but he was also slow to realise that she did not want that relationship to continue.”
Deluded stalker still has feelings for his victim
Mr McKay said it was clear from the social work report that the person who carried it out had concerns that McCombie still possessed feelings for the woman.
“He tells me that he has no intention of going anywhere near the complainer. I’m reasonably confident that he wouldn’t reoffend.”
Sheriff James Mulgrew told McCombie that it had been a “concerning period of time” for the woman he had been stalking.
The sheriff made McCombie, of Silverbank Gardens, Banchory, subject to a community payback order with supervision for six months.
He also put a non-harassment order in place, meaning McCombie cannot approach or contact the woman for two years.
Sheriff Mulgrew further warned McCombie that if he breached the order, he could face 12 months in prison.
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