Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Man stalked Isis victim’s daughter
THE daughter of a Tayside man murdered by Isis had a scrapbook dedicated to her father’s memory trashed by a stalker.
The treasured scrapbook was defaced by Andrew Murray, 22, during a sixmonth campaign of hate against Bethany Haines.
Bethany — whose father David Haines, from Perth, was executed by notorious Isis murderer Jihadi John — was left devastated as Murray subjected her to vile abuse.
Murray was due to go on trial before a jury at Perth Sheriff Court but changed his plea at the last minute to admit carrying out a lengthy stalking campaign.
He admitted that throughout his relationship with Bethany he caused her fear or alarm by subjecting her to constant controlling behaviour.
Murray, from Perth, admitted stalking the 20-year-old student in Coupar Angus between April 1 and October 3 last year.
Murray tampered with the contacts book on Bethany’s mobile phone so he could pose as another one of her friends.
He then duped her into having text conversations with him when she believed she was talking to a completely different person.
The charge he admitted detailed how he “defaced a scrapbook containing photographs of her late father”.
Murray’s obsessive behaviour started shortly after they began dating.
Murray admitted instructing Bethany to remove male friends from her Facebook account, and repeatedly shouting and swearing at her.
He punched holes in walls and doors and constantly bombarded the motherof-one with accusations that she had been unfaithful to him.
Murray also went on wrecking sprees in her home and smashed lamps, coffee tables and photo frames and terrified her by threatening to hurt himself.
Fiscal depute Sue Ruta told the court Murray had no previous convictions and that full details of the case would be given to the court at a later date.
Former RAF engineer David was in Syria helping civil war victims when he was snatched by Isis in Aleppo in March 2013 and later beheaded.
David’s brother Mike, who lives in Dundee, works with groups to combat extremist indoctrination of young people in the UK.
He has previously called for people to stand together and not become divided by terrorists’ actions.