The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Director left head teacher sinister message
Court: Man blamed illness on alleged work criticism
A COMPANY director used a payphone to leave a sinister message for a local head teacher because he was convinced she was to blame for his wife’s ill health.
Paul Husbands commented on Tina Stones’s car just after she got a new one, adding: “Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.”
Miss Stones and Husbands’s wife Jane worked together at Dornoch Academy in Sutherland and the court heard claims from the defence there had been “interaction” between the two, including alleged critcism from Miss Stones.
Husbands, 57, yesterday pleaded guilty to the Communications Act offence and was banned from contacting his victim for two years and ordered to pay £600 in compensation.
The message was played in court and the sheriff was told that Miss Stones was so alarmed, she contacted police.
A company director left a sinister message on the local head teachers’ voicemail because he blamed her for his wife’s ill health.
Jane Husbands and Tina Stones worked together at Dornoch Academy in Sutherland and Mrs Husbands’s spouse Paul believed alleged criticism by Miss Stones had affected her health.
The semi-retired food firm operations director called Miss Stones from a phone box in the town after he saw her in a new car.
Tain Sheriff Court heard he said in a husky voice: “Nice car. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.”
Husbands, 57, yesterday pleaded guilty to the Communications Act offence and was banned from contacting his victim for two years and ordered to pay £600 in compensation.
Miss Stones became head teacher at Dornoch Academy in February, 2015 and the court heard she was critical of Mrs Husbands’s performance.
Husbands, of Grant Crescent, was originally accused of stalking Miss Stones in a nine-month campaign of intimidation between February 6 and November 10.
It was claimed he vandalised her car and made hoax, sinister or menacing calls to her home, mobile, workplace and a car dealership.
Fiscal depute David Morton accepted a not guilty plea to that charge and accepted Husbands’s guilty plea to the voicemail offence.
Defence lawyer Rory Gowans told the court Husbands attributed his wife’s poor health to the poor relationship between the two teachers.
He said: “There was interaction between them over a period of years. Mrs Husbands was then signed off with stress.
“My client was watching his wife’s health deteriorate and believed the root cause was criticism of her performance by Miss Stones.
“In my view that criticism was unjust.”
Mr Gowans said Mr Husbands had no intention of doing anything, “bitterly” regretted the call and was diagnosed with depression by his GP the next day.
Sheriff Chris Dickson ordered Husbands to pay Miss Stones £600 compensation, and banned contact for two years. A spokeswoman for Highland Council refused to comment.