Stalker left his former girlfriend ‘distressed’
A former Paisley taxi driver has been found guilty of stalking his ex-girlfriend.
Bryan MacEwan, 27, left Shirley Williamson in a state of fear and alarm by turning up at her door uninvited, banging on her window, sending her texts, leaving flowers with her hairdresser, repeatedly driving past her house and even sitting outside her sister’s beauty salon.
A trial at Paisley Sheriff Court heard MacEwan, who worked for Renfrewshire Cab Company, refused to leave Ms Williamson alone after their relationship ended, despite her telling him she wanted nothing more to do with him.
Witness Moira Wilson, 44, a beauty therapist and sister of Ms Williamson, told the court how cabbie MacEwan showed up at his ex’s home late one night and banged on the window claiming he was looking for an address.
She said: “He came to the window and looked in the window. I could see him standing at the window. He was asking where this house was.
“My sister was startled. It was strange. He came to the window and not the door. She jumped up from the couch. She seemed shaken.
“She said, ‘ You need to stop doing that.’”
Ms Wilson said she noticed MacEwan sitting outside her salon at Braehead Road, Glenburn, in his car. She later reported this to police.
PC Graham McIntosh, 28, told how when he was called to Ms Williamson’s home in Saucelhill, he found her in a distressed state.
He said: “She was very upset, very distressed. I had to calm her down. She was all over the place.
“I asked her what had happened and took a statement.
“She made reference to the accused returning to her house through the night and how to keep herself safe.
“She gave me a gift card signed ‘with love Bryan xxx.’”
The trial heard that a neighbour had also gone to Ms Williamson’s door to see if she was OK after MacEwan showed up unannounced on another night.
Linda Paton had gone over to check after she spotted MacEwan
“stumbling” out of his Renault Trafic motor and chapping on Ms Williamson’s door.
MacEwan, giving evidence denied stalking his former girlfriend, stating they had been in an “on-off” relationship for more than year up to August 2018, when they were still talking.
He claimed that he only went to her house and chapped the window after he had been given a job by his taxi firm, which turned out as a “no job”.
MacEwan also said he handed in flowers to her hairdresser after realising she had “made a mess” of dyeing her hair and wanted to “cheer her up.”
However, Sheriff Sukhwinder Gill found him guilty of the charge of engaging in a course of conduct likely to cause fear and alarm by repeatedly approaching, contacting, or attempting to contact, Ms Williamson and waiting outside her home between August 2 and 17 last year.
Sentence was deferred for the court to obtain background reports until December 6, when he will learn of his fate.
A Paisley councillor has been selected as the Labour candidate for East Renfrewshire ahead of the impending general election.
Carolann Davidson, who currently represents Paisley East and Central as an opposition member on Renfrewshire Council, will contest Conservative MP Paul Masterton’s Westminster seat.
She was considered the preferred candidate to Lesley Fraser and has taken a tough stance on discrimination as she looks to represent East Renfrewshire in the House of Commons.
Councillor Davidson, a former community worker, said at the hustings on Tuesday evening:“I will stand up to stamp out any and all forms of discrimination whenever and wherever it may occur.
“Let me be clear, there is no place in our Labour Party or in our communities for antiSemitism, Islamophobia, racism, misogyny, bigotry, sectarianism, homophobia or disability discrimination.
“No ifs, no buts. If anyone locally is accused of any discriminatory behaviour, they should be fully investigated and be suspended until such processes are complete.
“And if they are proven to be complicit in such acts, then there is no place in Labour for them anymore.”
After receiving 25 of 33 votes, Councillor Davidson described her selection as a “tremendous honour”.
She added:“I am deeply grateful to have been selected as the Scottish
Labour candidate for East Renfrewshire in the 2019 General Election
“The opportunity to represent this area in the UK Parliament is a tremendous honour.
“I saw the positive transformation that a Labour government brought to our communities, from improvements to housing and education, to investing in healthcare and reducing poverty but I know there is still more to be done.
“East Renfrewshire deserves an MP who will put the interests of local residents first.
“If elected in December, I will stand up for our values, campaign to remain in and reform the European Union and the United Kingdom and deliver real change for the many, not the few.”