Man sent women explicit texts and obscene pictures

Aman, 31, sent sexual photos and messages to six women. One of Christopher Cowan’s victims installed CCTV and alarms at her home after he turned up at her work and bombarded her with calls.

He had denied sending the obscene texts and images, claiming someone was trying to set him up.

But a jury found him guilty in a three-day trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

Cowan, of Lady Anne Court, Crossgates, was placed on the sex offenders register and will be sentenced next month.

One woman told the trial she was contacted by Cowan using the profile “Lewis Calamari” in January 2020.

He started sending her explicit messages.

The woman said she felt “disturbed”, but thought it was someone she knew.

She kept the dialogue going to get answers.

After receiving a photo of a penis, she received a Snapchat message: “Are you wondering who is behind that pic you saw?”

Fiscal depute Ronnie Hay read out a further message, which suggested Cowan knew his target’s occupation.

References were made to her hobbies and interests.

The woman, who cannot be identified, blocked the account but was contacted again by Cowan using the name “Lewis Calamari 2.0”.

“I was getting angry and upset,” she said. “I was also very concerned at this point that someone who knew me would not do this.”

She said the second profile then sent her a bitmoji – a personalised cartoon avatar – which looked “as close as it could” to her, as well as a male bitmoji peering from behind a curtain.

Another profile called “Lewis Calamari 3.0” contacted her and then, after she blocked it, a profile with the name Chri51990 tried to contact her but she blocked this at the outset, believing it was the same person.

Another woman, 29, told the trial she was sent sexually explicit Snapchat messages around the same time from profiles using the same pseudonyms. She was sent a photo of herself – apparently from Facebook – by another profile with a sexualised message.

Another victim said she was contacted by Cowan on a dating website and she met him on four occasions.

She later received sexual messages from him. She received such contact from about 10 numbers but believed it was the same person. Cowan turned up at her place of work where he was asked to desist. He made repeated calls to her.

She told the court the situation made her “anxious and upset”.

The trial heard a police officer who visited Cowan’s home noticed his bedding matched that in a photo of a penis in the probe.

Cowan said the messages were sent by someone else.

Mr Hay told jurors: “Christopher Cowan has created numerous profiles and sent unwanted sexual material from profiles, including images of his erect penis, and tried to cover his tracks, but he has failed.”

Sheriff Charles Macnair remanded Cowan in custody and deferred sentence to March 3.

SENT IMAGES: Christopher Cowan was found guilty by jury at Dunfermline Sheriff Court after targeting six women.