‘I wish I had never met her’

SOLICITOR Mike Tavendale, defending Jaclyn McGowan, told the court: “It was a one night stand and quite obviously an unsatisfactory one.

“Jamie Aitken was extremely drunk and it was immediately regretted by my client and that was simply reinforced in the days following, particularly when she found out she was pregnant.

“Mr Aitken made it abundantly clear to her he did not want a child and wanted nothing to do with it. From that point matters go downhill.

“She then has a miscarriage but maintains the pretence and from there on she gets caught up in the lie. It gets to the point where it is very difficult to go back.”

Victim Jamie Aitken said: “She was full of stories of how I didn’t want to have anything to do with this ‘baby’. It was all lies. She was sending me abusive messages, refusing to have anything to do with me but telling my family I was trying to get out of my responsibilities.

“She tried to pit my own family against me. She drew my parents in with her lies. She just concocted this whole world.

“It went on for months, and I didn’t have a decent night’s sleep throughout because I was so worried and confused.

“How could one human being do that to another?

“I don’t even know why she targeted me.

“I wish I’d never met her.

“I’m embarrassed and upset about it all, and I just want to forget it happened, but I do think it’s important to speak out so she cannot do this again.”

Mr Aitken met McGowan through Tinder in the spring of 2019 and they met for the first time when she came to Dundee after he had been at a family wedding.

He said: “Maybe she’s been scarred by something from her own life, but it still doesn’t explain what she did. The police found out she’d bought a prosthetic bump online.”