The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Daughter of murdered hostage subject to abuse
COURT: Andrew Murray kept Bethany Haines in a state of fear and alarm
The daughter of murdered Scots hostage David Haines had a scrapbook dedicated to her father’s memory trashed by a stalker.
The scrapbook was defaced by Andrew Murray, 22, during a six month campaign of hate against Bethany Haines.
Bethany, whose father was executed by Isis, was left devastated as Murray subjected her to 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 and October last year.
During the bullying campaign, 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 communicating with a different person.
Murray, whose obsessive behaviour started shortly after they began dating, also secretly sent pictures of Bethany partially naked to his friend Sam Akli.
A source close to the case said: “Andrew Murray was a control freak and his contribution to this ‘relationship’ was completely toxic.
“After all that Bethany has been through, this would have been the last thing she needed.
“She must have been particularly horrified when he trashed her scrapbook. “That is cruel beyond belief.” Murray admitted telling 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 accused her of being unfaithful.
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.
Depute fiscal Sue Ruta told the court Murray had no previous convictions and that full details of the case would be given to the court later this week.
She said: “A very lengthy narration is anticipated, given the charge and the timescale involved in what the accused has pled guilty to.”
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis confirmed he would hear the details of the case on Wednesday.
Bethany declined to comment on the case.
Last week, she posted a social media message marking the third anniversary of hearing how her father had died in horrific circumstances after being held hostage for months.
In the touching post, she wrote: “Three years ago I was woken up with the awful news that a video of my Dad’s death had been released online.
“In those moments my whole world collapsed and even three years on it still feels the same.
“They say with time it gets easier, but it really doesn’t. You just learn to deal with it.
“It kills me that my Dad will never see his grandson, that we’ll never have any more ice-cream movie nights and he’ll never get to lecture me about doing well at college.
“Taken far too soon and it’s now up to me to help stop any more families from ever feeling what I’m feeling. “Love you Daddy, fly high.” David Haines, 44, was beheaded by the terrorist dubbed Jihadi John in September 2014.
Bethany has described how she turned to alcohol, drugs and self-harm to numb the torment of his abduction by Isis and the 17 months he was held hostage.
Former RAF engineer David, from Scone, was in Syria helping civil war victims when he was snatched by Isis in Aleppo in March 2013.
David was living in Croatia with second wife Dragana and their daughter Athea, four, when he was kidnapped just days into his humanitarian mission.
London-born Jihadi John, 27 – real name Mohammed Emwazi – killed seven Westerners on camera before he was killed in a US drone strike.