A multiple sclerosis sufferer who sent hundreds of offensive and menacing messages to his estranged wife after she stopped caring for him has escaped a jail sentence.
Jonathon Clay was remanded in custody over Christmas after Inverness Sheriff Court was told of the vile nature of the communications over a three-month period.
Clay, 44, of Abertarff Place, Fort Augustus, ignored court orders not to contact his wife after he was first charged with sending her indecent, obscene or menacing messages between August 10 and August 12 this year.
He told police on being charged: “They were just words. I went a bit far.”
Fiscal depute Karen Poke previously said that over the initial three-day period, Clay’s wife received spiteful and belittling texts, comparing her to animals, criticising her weight and calling her a “c***” several times.
She quoted other threats: “You would be better off dead. I hope you have a painful death. I will burn your house down.”
Clay also said he hoped his wife would get terminal cancer.
Threats to kill family
Ms Poke added: “On August 13 she received a non-threatening message saying: ‘I would never hurt you’ so she made arrangements to meet him.
“Then later that day she got messages saying: ‘I will f****** kill you. I am going to kill all your f****** family’.
“He was traced on September 19 and told police after he was charged: ‘I am extremely apologetic. I wish I had never done it.’
“But on October 12 she got text messages from a new number she suspected was her husband.
“Up until November 14, she got over 400 messages which were offensive and of an inappropriate sexual nature.
“On November 14, she was alone in her house and heard a commotion outside.
“She looked and saw him in his mobility scooter. He said he had been invited to her house but she replied he had not, filmed him on her phone and police were informed.”
‘His MS has led to him taking alcohol’
Ms Poke concluded by telling the sheriff that Clay’s wife did not want a non-harassment order put in place.
Defence solicitor John MacColl conceded that jail was a real possibility for his client, saying: “His MS has led to him taking alcohol as a coping mechanism. His conduct was reprehensible and the pattern is concerning.”
Sheriff Gary Aitken criticised Clay for wallowing in “self-pity and demonstrating a staggering amount of selfishness”.
However, he decided there was an alternative to prison and placed Clay under two years of social work supervision and ordered that he take part in a rehabilitation programme for domestic abusers.
But he warned Clay of repercussions if he didn’t complete his punishment.
“You will be right back in jail for as long as I can possibly make it,” Sheriff Aitken said.
“Society will not tolerate behaviour of this kind. But your wife seems determined to still support you. She must be a saint.”
The sheriff did not impose a non-harassment order in the circumstances.