The very tangled, middle-class web of adultery that ended in court
Fitness trainer had affair with his wife’s sister – then was stalked by the women’s accountant brother
A CHARTERED accountant whose brother-in-law had a long-running affair with his wife’s younger sister has been convicted of stalking the reconciled couple.
Martin O’Hara, 34, embarked on what was described as a ‘toxic smear campaign’ against fitness instructor Patrick McVey after his three-year fling.
Mr McVey, 37, was targeted after he confessed to adultery with his sister-in-law Emma and returned to wife Kathleen.
O’Hara repeatedly turned up at the couple’s home in the Shawlands area of Glasgow, prompting them to eventually fit electric gates in an attempt to keep him out.
Glasgow Sheriff Court heard how Mrs McVey, 33, was forced to block her brother on social media after being left physically sick by his
‘Her heart would start to race’
posts. He also turned his attentions to Mr McVey’s pensioner mother, approaching her in a park and sending her an ‘unwelcome’ message on Facebook.
O’Hara was found guilty yesterday of stalkreliable ing Mr McVey, Kathleen McVey and Margaret McVey, 69, between March 1, 2020, and January 5, 2021.
The court heard how Mr McVey had started an affair with sisterin-law Emma, then aged 22, in late 2016. He admitted it to his wife in January 2020.
Detailing his brother-in-law’s behaviour, the trainer told the trial: ‘There were occasions where Kathleen would receive a message and she would vomit in a state of shock. She tried to explain this to her parents – that any time she got a message from him her heart would start to race.’
On one occasion, O’Hara refused to leave until he was threatened with the police. Describing how the couple eventually erected electric gates at their home, Mr McVey told fiscal Darren Harty: ‘Kathleen did not feel secure. It was due to the number of visits she was receiving that she did not know what else to do. It did not matter what she said or did.’
Mrs McVey gave evidence against her brother and said he had helped create ‘a dangerous false narrative’ about her husband. She spoke of having to confront the ‘toxicity’ of what was being said.
In his evidence, O’Hara rebuffed claims by Mrs McVey that he had even told business clients about the affair.
Mr Harty challenged him: ‘You told two strangers in the street they were having an affair – did you tell anyone else about the affair or do you say that is not true?’
O’Hara said he had discussed that there had been affair, but had not gone into detail. Convicting him, Sheriff Kevin McCarron said: ‘I find the McVeys to be credible, and persuasive witnesses. They gave straightforward answers and there was no question of exaggerating matters.’
Frances Connor, defending, had asked the sheriff for an absolute discharge due to the ‘unique, extremely difficult circumstances’ and the fact that O’Hara was a first offender.
The sheriff refused the motion, stating: ‘I agree that these were stressful circumstances for everyone but this wasn’t a momentary aberration – this was a significant course of conduct over a period of time.’
The matter was deferred for six months for O’Hara to be of good behaviour.
‘Extremely difficult circumstances’