Fake pregnancy left the victim feeling suicidal
A Perthshire taxi company has launched its own booking app.
Radio Taxis says the new interactive system will make ordering a cab easier and quicker.
It allows users to input where they would like to go, how much the journey will cost them and approximately how long it will be until they are picked up.
While waiting for collection, users will be able to track their drivers progress in real time with live GPS tracking.
And there will be no need for cash payments either as the journey can be paid by bank card or Apple Pay, directly from within the app.
Sandy Smith, owner of Radio Taxis, said:“Over the last few years it has
A woman became pregnant after a drunken “one night stand” with a man she had met on the Tinder dating website.
A week later, however, trainee nurse Jaclyn McGowan had a miscarriage, Perth Sheriff Court was told.
And in a bizarre bid to trick Jamie Aitken’s family into believing she was pregnant, the 36-year-old wore a prosthetic baby bump - and sent scan photographs of the baby to his mother.
The accused kept up the deception for nine months, even picking a name for the “child” - and wanted £300 transferred to her to pay for a cot.
But the family became suspicious when Jamie Aitken’s brother saw McGowan at a trampoline park looking slim despite her supposed to be eight months pregnant.
A week later his brother saw her in the park and she had a “baby bump” which turned out to be fake.
A first offender, McGowan, of Craighall Place, Rattray, was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work over the next year after pleading guilty to an amended stalking charge.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: “As these offences go, it falls within probably the least become apparent that more people prefer to use technology when booking journeys.
“This gives customers real time control of each journey and the ability to see what vehicles are available at any time. For customers using the app at an event or wishing to track a child or loved one’s journey, they can view the status of the vehicle easily.
“And from an operational perspective it will also make managing and dispatching cars so much more efficient.
“We’ve been working on this project for a few months now, so I am excited to see it finally go live.”
The new app is available to download from both the Apple App Store and Google Play. serious category.”
But that did not “diminish” the nature of the charge - or the effects on those involved.
The sheriff was told that Jamie Aitken had been left “feeling low and at times suicidal” - and his mother said it had “almost caused a rift in the family relationship”.
McGowan admitted that between June 1, 2019, and February 29, 2020, she engaged in a course of conduct that caused “fear or alarm” to Jamie Aitken, his brother Corrie and their mother Wendy.
Her actions took place at her home in Rattray and at Corrie’s workplace - Ryze Trampoline Park, Old Glamis Road, Dundee.
Depute fiscal Tina Dickie told the court that the accused and Jamie Aitken had chatted on a dating app. They finally met in a pub and “went back to the accused’s hotel where they continued to drink alcohol and engaged in sexual intercourse”.
They messaged each other for several days after that but when she asked to meet up with him again, he declined.
Two weeks later she told the victim she was pregnant and the pair decided “they would find a way to make it work”.
Soon after that, communications deteriorated and she sent a message describing him as “not a good person.”
She asked for money for the cot and twice claimed she had suffered a miscarriage.
McGowan then began messaging members of Jamie’s family telling them that he would have “nothing to do with the baby but his family were more than welcome”.
The fiscal added: “It was around this time the accused sent Wendy Aitken photographs of baby scans via Facebook Messenger.”
But Jamie Aitken was “beginning to feel suspicious about the pregnancy” and by February 2020, the accused had blocked him on all social media platforms so he could not contact her.
It was then McGowan was seen by Corrie Aitken.
Jamie reported the matter to the police in October 2020, and McGowan was interviewed that month.
She then confessed to police that, although she had been pregnant, she had a miscarriage “about a week later but hadn’t informed Jamie”.
She also admitted wearing the prosthetic baby bump to give the impression she was pregnant.
“She didn’t give an explanation other than she wanted to hurt him because of the way the relationship had ended,” stated Ms Dickie.
Solicitor Mike Tavendale said the one-night stand had been “immediately regretted” by McGowan.
Mr Tavendale said the victim had pressured McGowan to have an abortion.
“It’s essentially from that point that matters go downhill,” added the lawyer.
“She then has a miscarriage but maintains the pretence.
“From then on, she’s caught up in the lie.”
There was no motion from the prosecution for a NonHarassment Order to be imposed.