Hypnotherapist accused of stalking ex found not guilty

A MAN has been cleared of stalking his former partner for two months after the acrimonious breakdown of their relationship.

Hypnotherapist Michael Walsh – who was cleared last year of sexually assaulting patients – had been accused of causing Karen Steeple fear and alarm by staring at her.

She told Perth Sheriff Court that Walsh, 72, had repeatedly followed her and deliberately loitered outside a cafe he knew she frequented.

Walsh was alleged to have engaged in a course of conduct that caused Ms Steeple fear or alarm between January 20 and March 9.

However, Sheriff Neil Bowie found him not guilty of the charge after hearing another witness who did not describe Ms Steeple as being fearful or alarmed.

Walsh told the trial he had been staying away from his ex-partner and accused her of trying to intimidate him.

He claimed their relationship had broken down a few years ago after Ms Steeple had an affair and he was now in a relationship with palliative care nurse Karen Johnstone, 62.

Ms Johnstone claimed: “Karen has caused us nothing but grief for four years. She wants to harm us is how I feel.

“She told me that if I continued to be in a relationship with Mike then bad things would happen to me. What she said was ‘I will destroy you.’”

Last year, Walsh was cleared of sexually assaulting patients including a troubled schoolgirl after a trial lasting several days.

He was cleared of groping a woman after hypnotising her to cure her fear-of-flying and of molesting the girl while she was being treated at his practice.

Sheriff Gillian Wade found him not guilty after ruling that confusion in the evidence of the girl over the dates of the offence – more than a decade ago – meant she could not be satisfied of his guilt.

She said that without finding him guilty of that offence she could not find him guilty of the other as they could only be proved if one corroborated the other.

Michael Walsh