Edinburgh man who threatened to shoot woman he met through dating site jailed
An Edinburgh man who put a gun to a woman's head and threatened to shoot her within weeks of contacting her through an online dating site was jailed for more than four years today (05/01/16).
Kenneth Ellis left his 40-year-old victim fearing that she was going to die, thinking: "I am never going to get out of here."
She managed to make a 999 call warning that Ellis had got a gun and when police arrived they found her standing in the middle of the road shaking uncontrollably.
Ellis (44) also subjected another woman to harassment turning up at her home and repeatedly sending her text messages and phoning her.
A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: "You have pled guilty to two offences involving behaviour of a controlling and demanding nature towards two separate women."
Lord Turnbull told Ellis: "It seems to me appropriate that a custodial sentence is imposed in respect o the present matters."
He jailed Ellis for three years and nine months for the incident involving the gun and a further four months and 15 days for the offence against the other woman.
Ellis had earlier admitted abducting and assaulting a woman at his home in Telford Drive, Craigleith, Edinburgh on August 6 and 7 last year by seizing hold of her, repeatedly threatening to shoot her, pressing a gun against her head, placing her in a state of fear that she was about to die and locking her in the house.
He had also originally faced an allegation of raping her, but that was deleted under the terms of the plea.
Unemployed Ellis also admitted engaging in a course of conduct between March 2014 and August last year at addresses in Edinburgh which caused another 28-year-old woman fear or alarm by repeatedly texting, phoning and attending at her home uninvited.
Defence solicitor advocate Leanne McQuillan said: "He fully appreciates a custodial sentence is inevitable."