Dumped Bathgate boyfriend said: '˜I'll go to jail for you'

A dumped boyfriend didn't get the message when his ex made it clear she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Kenneth Stewart bombarded his former partner Lauren Black with texts and voicemails, sent her flowers and followed her around in an increasingly desperate bid to rekindle their relationship.

He begged her father and her brother to persuade her to phone him, a court heard, and continued his lovelorn campaign after he was charged and released on bail on condition he did not approach or contact her.

The spurned lover even sent a photograph of himself with a rope tied around his neck to her brother.

He then turned up at a tanning salon she attended and demanded to know why a camper van had gone from her driveway, indicating that he was monitoring her movements.

She contacted the police and Stewart, 42, found himself in the dock at Livingston Sheriff Court charged with two stalking offences and breaching court bail conditions.

He pleaded guilty to all three charges when he appeared from custody today and he was fined £600 and made subject to a nine-month non-harassment order.

Katrine Craig, prosecuting, stressed that the messages Stewart had sent proclaiming his love for Miss Black had not been in any way threatening.

She said it was the frequency and volume of his unwanted communications that had caused her upset and distress.

On one day alone, she said, Miss Black got 37 messages from the accused declaring sentiments such as “Love you, babe, and you know all I ever do is love you.”

Stewart was arrested and charged and on 7 September released on special bail conditions to keep away from her.

Over the next two days he left voicemail messages on her landline saying he still loved her and saying he would “tell her what to say to the police”.

He later approached her father at a local supermarket and told him: “Tell Laurne to phone me. I’ll go to jail for her.”

He made further attempts to contact Miss Black, despite her telling him releatedly to stop, Miss Craig added.

Stewart was arrested after he left a further two unwanted voicemails on 10 October telling her how much he loved her.

When he was cautioned and charged he replied: “I will say something. The first contact came from her towards me.”

Alison McNab, defending, said the couple had previously had a relationship and Stewart had given up his life in Spain in an attempt to reignite it.

She said: “He was particularly upset about that coming to an end. I think it can be said he wasn’t getting the message.

“The first contact came from Miss Black in relation to retrieving her personal belongings from the home they shared.

“He should have known better, being on bail. He has no intention of being in contact with her again.”

Outside court, Stewart claimed a “bent cop” had coached his ex partner about how to get him into trouble and said he was lodging a formal complaint with Police Scotland.

Miss Blck was not available for comment.