A Highland businessman and estate manager has been fined £2,000 for stalking his neighbour for six years.
Ernst Robberts, who owns land and holiday lodges near Invergordon, was yesterday found guilty of engaging in a course of conduct which caused Gail Nichol-Andrews fear or alarm by repeatedly loitering outside her home and looking inside, and installing CCTV to monitor her movements along an access track.
Mrs Nichol-Andrews previously told Tain Sheriff Court that Robberts, originally from Holland, parked his car outside of her home and stared inside between 40 and 50 times in 2011.
Sheriff Janys Scott QC said his actions have “caused enormous distress” to Mrs Nichol-Andrews and her family and warned him to stop the conduct.
Last night, Mrs Nichol Andrews said she was “disappointed” her neighbour did not receive a jail sentence but added: “I am glad he has been found guilty, but I would have liked a bit more given the impact on me and my boys and my husband.
“He is a wealthy person, £2,000 is laughable and it sends out the wrong message to people who think they can stalk people and call it a neighbourhood dispute.
“I think we just need to try our best to recover. We will never be able to recoup the years we have lost. It’s been like living with a chronic illness and has changed me in terms of the person I was. It’s been so oppressive.”
The offences took place between December 13, 2010 and August 14, 2016.
Mr Robberts had claimed during the trial that he was the vicitmof a “conspiracy”.
But in her judgment, Sheriff Scott found that Mrs Nichol-Andrews’ evidence of Robberts “watching” her was corroborated by evidence from both of her sons and her husband, Hugh Nichol-Andrews.
Sheriff Scott also highlighted that two of three access routes to Mrs Nichol-Andrew’s property had been blocked off by Robberts on land he owned, leaving just one access to her property past his home.
The sheriff said that, although this related to an ongoing civil dispute over servitude rights, it was given a different complexion when Robberts installed CCTV which meant he could monitor her comings and goings.
Sheriff Scott said he had a “barrage” of recording devices – one each on his shed and at driver height and a 360 degree camera – which, in the wider context, was a “continuation of this course of conduct.”
The sheriff said the proof of intention to cause fear or alarm was based on evidence given by Robberts’ own sister, Mieke Horsburgh, who worked at the Ranch chalet park owned by Robberts’ family.
While working in the bar there, Mrs Horsburgh said she overheard her brother telling a family friend how he “winds up” the lady in the cottage “when there is no one around” and that she “goes mental.”
After the sentencing another of Robberts’ sisters, Hetty Morrison, described her brother as a “narcissist”.
Sheriff Scott added: “This is a long standing course of conduct and has caused enormous distress to a family.”