A nurse’s career was left in tatters after she harassed a woman to pay debts to her partner.
Leeann Brown was suspended by the NHS after admitting sending threatening texts.
She has since left the job and runs her own business.
Brown, 39, appeared for sentencing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court after previously admitting acting in a threatening manner by sending text messages to a woman in 2019 in which she said she would pass on the woman’s address to gangsters further up the chain if the woman did not repay debts.
The court heard that someone “higher up” has since been jailed for arriving at Brown and partner David Smith’s home in High Valleyfield to demand debt repayment.
‘People above her not messing about’
Brown’s solicitor David Bell said: “The description of her involvement… she sent, I think in a single day, a series of messages which went back and forward.
“It was really a single exchange of messages.
“There had been various threats carried out at the property including an incident where Mr Smith was the victim.
“Somebody went to prison for that.
“People that were above her in the pecking order were not messing about.
“If the debt wasn’t paid, they would come to Miss Brown and Mr Smith’s address.
“The debt has been repaid.”
Co-accused to be sentenced this week
Sentencing had been deferred to allow mum-of-four Brown to give birth last month.
The court heard her only previous convictions were traffic matters.
Sheriff James Williamson placed her under supervision for a year and instructed her to complete 150 hours of unpaid work in that time.
The sheriff told her: “This is not a matter that I’m prepared to deal with on the basis of a monetary penalty.
“It’s far more serious than that.
“I don’t expect to see you again.”
Smith, a welder who is listed in court papers as a HMP Perth inmate, was not present and sentencing was deferred until Wednesday.
The 39-year-old will be sentenced for attempting to extort money from a different woman.
