A Fife woman has admitted stalking a man and his partner outside their home for more than nine months.
Lauren Francis, 30, repeatedly loitered outside the male’s address in Lochore, staring at the property.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard she would sit on steps opposite “for hours at a time”.
Francis also stalked the man’s cousin and her partner at their Ballingry home in the same way for more than three months.
She appeared from custody to admit the two stalking offences.
Caused victims ‘great concerns’
Prosecutor Laura McManus told the court Francis and the man had “gone on a couple of dates”.
She said he began to notice in June 2022 Francis was attending near his house on two to three occasions a week, staring at it and wandering back and forward.
Ms McManus said: “There are steps at flats opposite his house and she would sit on the steps for hours at a time looking at the house”.
She was attending outside his home “almost every night” and causing him and his new partner “great concerns,” the fiscal said.
Ms McManus continued: “Every time he was leaving his house to go about his business he was having to check the accused was not around”.
Around December 2022 he installed a Ring doorbell and the camera captured Francis loitering in the street and looking at his house.
She was seen again on occasions in January and February last year.
Turned up at second address
The fiscal depute said the man’s cousin’s address in Ballingry became known to Francis and she began turning up there and “displaying concerning behaviour”.
The couple noted – and caught on CCTV – Francis “staring into windows” and loitering outside the address.
Francis, of Kirkcaldy‘s High Street, pled guilty to engaging in a course of conduct causing fear and alarm to the first couple between July 1 2022 and April 18 2023.
She admitted engaging in the same course of conduct against the second couple in Ballingry between February 1 and May 17 2023.
She also previously admitted failing to comply with a bail condition by being outside her bail address and entering the street in Lochore on December 23 last year.
Defence — accused did not mean harm
Defence lawyer Alexander Flett said his client’s social work report indicated suspicion of emotionally unstable personality disorder and perhaps autistic spectrum.
The solicitor said Francis does not present as meaning harm and had been going to the man’s address in the hope of seeing him face-to-face.
The lawyer said: “It does not seem to register it’s not something he wants.
“She seems to have difficulty with the concept her being there might cause fear or alarm”.
Sheriff Garry Sutherland sentenced Francis to offender supervision for 18 months as part of a community payback order.
The sheriff also made a conduct requirement for her to engage with mental health support as directed by her supervising officer.
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