Knightswood Stalker Pleads Guilty to 16 Year Ordeal

A MAN carried out a stalking campaign towards his ex partner spanning 16 years after learning she had terminated his child. Colin Strain, 43, sent letters, postcards and Facebook messages to abuse his former girlfriend. He contacted her family over social media and even tried tell her employers about the termination in 1996. He branded her a "murdering bitch" and said "the blood will never come off your hands". Strain, from Knightswood pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to breaching the peace between April 1997 and December 2010. He also admitted a charge of stalking his ex girlfriend between December 2010 and August 2013. The court heard the couple met in 1994 while working they were students working in a Glasgow nightclub. After a three year relationship in 1996, the woman had a termination after discovering she was pregnant but didn't tell Strain at the time. She did tell him a short time later and was soon after subjected to abusive messages. In April 1997 Strain sent a letter to his former partner's parents' address where she stayed at the time. In it he said "this letter is from Mr Strain, you remember, that guy's life that you have practically destroyed with your selfish usual f** antics pre Christmas time." He also said "You really don't want to see me again because you never know how I will react." The court heard that the words "it all could have been so avoided if you only kept your fat face shut" seems to be a reference to her telling him she had an abortion. A couple of months later Strain phoned her again and told her his mother was dead and it was her fault she "died of a broken heart". In October 1997 she received another letter from Strain saying that a life in prison "through my impending compulsive desire to fulfill a heinous crime would not however be ambitious".

A further letter was sent in November that year and in 1998 a phone call was made to the clothes shop where the woman worked, but she never returned the call.

During the summer of 1999 a postcard was sent to her via the Head Office of the company.

On it he called the woman a "murdering bitch" and said "Reader, he was there for her but she is used to abandonment".

The contact stopped for 10 years until October 2009 when Strain contacted his victim's sister on Facebook.

The court was told he sent a private message which said "Tell that murdering b** of a sister that she has completely destroyed my life and all my family".

A further message was sent in January 2010 to her sister, but in March 2010 Strain sent his former partner two messages to her Facebook account.

In one he said "All your friends know what you did, all your family know what you did, I know what you did but most importantly you know what you did.

"I hope you live to a 100 where your hair becomes as dry as straw for the shadow will never leave you. This is all I have to say before I go."

The court heard that in the second message he said: "In the end, you will have to suffer the consequences after this life.

"The blood will never come off your hands no mater how hard you wash and there will be more."

After these messages, the woman contacted the police.

Another message was sent the following day apologising for his previous message and that the police had been to his door.

The court heard further messages were sent, including to another of her sisters in December 2010, one with a link to a website about abortion being murder.

An online message was sent to her work in January 2011 and a postcard in August 2013.

The online message said "Hope your senior buyer can wash her hands of the blood she shed when she terminated a child without consent of the father".

At seven months pregnant the woman - who is now extra vigilant about her safety - contacted the police.

It was said on Strain's behalf that he was suffering personal problems and had he not the offences would not have taken place.

Sheriff John McCormick said: "It must have been very upsetting and worrying for the complainer and her family to receive such abusive communication over such a long period relating to a time so long ago."

Sentence was deferred until a later date and bail was continued.