A married police officer wove an elaborate fantasy world to dupe his secret lover into thinking her life and his were both in danger.
Scott Gorrie, 43, was behind bars last night and his career lay in ruins as full details of his bizarre fictional life with the unsuspecting paramedic were revealed at Perth Sheriff Court.
Gorrie targeted the woman after being called to attend a domestic incident at her home, lured her into a relationship by friending her on Facebook, and bombarded her with 6,000 phone messages.
But shortly after forming the relationship behind his wife’s back, the father-of-two started creating a fantasy world to con her into thinking she was being stalked.
As the lies became more and more elaborate, Gorrie eventually turned to two associates for help in creating a plausible back story to ward off an internal police investigation into his behaviour. He tried to persuade them to tamper with evidence for him.
Today, Sheriff William Wood remanded Gorrie in custody for pre-sentence reports and warned him that he could expect to be sent to prison.
Sheriff Wood said: “This very tangled web you have woven in relation to all of the complainers is significant and serious and it seems likely it will be impossible to avoid a custodial sentence.”
Gorrie, from Birkhill, Angus, admitted four charges on indictment including stalking Victoria Ramsay in Perthshire between 13 and 26 June last year.
He admitted causing her to believe she and her family were being monitored and were at risk of harm from others.
He also admitted trying to pervert the course of justice by persuading Scott Glover of Kirriemuir, Angus, to pretend he had found Gorrie’s mobile phone – to help him cover up the stalking.
Gorrie also admitted trying to pervert the course of justice by attempting to persuade John Leech to tell Michelle Murdoch to provide false information to the police on 5 December.
And he admitted breaking a bail condition not to approach Michelle Murdoch at her home in Alyth, Perthshire, by doing so on 12 November.
Fiscal Fiona Karnan told the court former car valeter Gorrie had been a Constable with Police Scotland since 2015 and had been based in Blairgowrie when he was called to a routine incident at Mrs Ramsay’s home.
Knowing she was in the middle of a divorce, he tracked her down on Facebook and within a few weeks he had become involved in a relationship with her which included meeting other family members.
“The content and volume of messages showed that over a few weeks quite an intense relationship developed,” Mrs Karnan said. “There were in excess of 6,000 messages from 11 May to 22 August.”
Mrs Ramsay had expressed to him a fear that her estranged husband was monitoring her and Gorrie played on that fear to hatch an elaborate stream of lies.
“This was the start of an elaborate fiction created by the accused based on the fear she held.” Gorrie claimed he had information several people were involved in following her.
He lied that he had been a dog handler, and a traffic officer, and told her that they were both being followed and that he feared that their lives were in danger.
He told another party his wife had died in a car crash.
At one stage, he told his lover that he was detailing a criminal informant to watch her home for her to check if others were spying on her.
Mrs Karnan said: “This is not the usual stalking charge. He caused the complainer real fear and alarm.”
Gorrie added credence to the threat by telling Mrs Ramsay that a message had been received from her imaginary “stalker” in which he was able to describe a specific meal she had eaten.
“He added further fictional characters in the story. Messages reinforced this lady’s belief that she and the accused were in real danger. The relationship began to falter when she discovered he had fed her a pack of lies.”
Mrs Ramsay called his sergeant and after an investigation began into his Walter Mitty behaviour, Gorrie set off to cover his tracks by roping in friends and ex-colleagues to spin more lies for him.
However, the internal investigation quickly brought the whole thing to a conclusion and Gorrie was arrested.
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