Jailed, the stalker who f lew 10,000 miles to track down his ex
A STALKER who flew 10,000 miles from Australia to track down his former girlfriend in Scotland has been jailed for eight months and banned from contacting his victim for a decade.
Jordan McKenzie, 27, bombarded the woman with messages and sent her flowers and other gifts from his home in Brisbane after they met through online gaming.
She ended their romance after a few weeks and he returned home, only to begin bombarding her with flowers and gifts.
But when the care home worker refused to have further contact with him, he made a malicious allegation against her to the Nursery and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Software engineer McKenzie flew to Scotland and confronted his victim who called in the police. But her ordeal did not end, after he continued to terrorise her by sending letters from his cell in Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow.
McKenzie appeared at Airdrie Sheriff Court in Lanarkshire yesterday and admitted a 13-month harassment campaign against the woman and two others between March 2020 and April last year.
He was sentenced to 35 weeks by Sheriff Fergus Thomson but will be deported back to Australia due to time already served behind bars.
It is understood McKenzie was taken from the court straight to a detention centre while the process begins to take him back to his homeland. McKenzie was also handed a ten-year non-harassment order by the sheriff.
The court previously heard that McKenzie had demanded his victim’s friends arrange for them to meet and warned them that he would kill himself if she continued to ignore him.
He went straight to her home after arriving on a flight from Dubai in December 2020 before he was arrested and remanded in custody.
Police said the victim had had her world ‘turned upside down’ by McKenzie and was left ‘physically, mentally and emotionally drained’.
McKenzie, who represented himself in court, claimed he was fearful about the impact the case would have on his job prospects.
The case was hit with a string of delays after 40 lawyers refused to take him on as a client.
Social workers had deemed him ‘unsuitable’ for any sentence other than custody.
PC Claire Young, of Police Scotland, said earlier: ‘A woman’s life was turned upside down by McKenzie’s behaviour. His inability to accept his attention was unwanted has left her physically, mentally and emotionally drained.
‘Stalking is a serious form of abuse. I hope his conviction gives her some comfort.’