Spurned lesbian put tracker on ex-lover’s car to stalk her
Victim also targeted by email
‘Moved into criminality’
A PRODUCTION manager stuck a tracker to the underside of her lesbian lover’s car after accusing her of cheating.
Heather Keith, 48, was driven by ‘jealousy and curiosity’ after Pamela McLaren ended their relationship.
Falkirk Sheriff Court was told that Keith had bombarded Miss McLaren with more than 100 emails.
She also set up an Instagram account under another name posting entries about ‘infidelity and cheating’ before fitting the tracking device underneath Miss McLaren’s car.
Prosecutor Katie Cunningham told the court: ‘The accused and the complainer were in a relationship for four years.
‘When it came to an end it was very much on the complainer’s side – the accused wanted it to continue.’
Miss Cunningham said the couple’s relationship ended in September 2019 and the emails, which she recognised as coming from Keith even though Keith was not using her usual email address, began in mid-October.
Then, a few days before Christmas that year, Miss McLaren drove in her car to have a meal with a friend in Glasgow.
Miss Cunningham said: ‘The friend was someone the accused had previously been quite jealous of.
‘Part way through the meal the complainer received a text that made her aware the accused knew where she was.
‘She was able to identify a black box on the underside of her car which had four flashing red lights on it and realised it was a tracker.’
The court heard that police were able to link the purchase of the tracker to Keith.
Keith, of Bathgate, West Lothian, pleaded guilty on
Thursday to stalking Miss McLaren in Denny, Stirlingshire, and elsewhere in Scotland, between October 16 and December 22 last year.
She admitted causing her fear and alarm by repeatedly accusing Miss McLaren of infidelity, sending her emails, creating ‘alarming posts’ on Instagram, installing the tracking device on her car and using it to track her location.
Defence solicitor Billy Hendry told the court: ‘She was jealous, curious and emotional and all that, put together, resulted in her acting in the way that she did, and she accepts she moved into criminality.’
Sheriff Derek Livingston said that the whole situation for Miss McLaren must have been ‘very unpleasant’.
He said that he could ‘entirely understand’ people becoming upset over the ending of a relationship.
However, the sheriff added: ‘Most people don’t go as far as fitting trackers and setting up fake Instagram accounts.’
He ordered Keith to pay Miss McLaren £1,000 in compensation, and made her subject to a non-harassment order for the next three years.
This requires her to stay away from Miss McLaren and not to contact her.
Keith refused to comment as she left the court.