A Tayside abuser was able to bombard his victim with more than 400 phone calls from behind bars as he tried to bully her into lying.
Adam Stewart harassed the woman from prison for more than five months as he tried to get her to change her story.
He was on remand for spitting in his hand and rubbing it in the woman’s face.
On Thursday at Dundee Sheriff Court, Stewart was jailed for one year and 216 days and was banned from contacting his victim for the next five years.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown noted Stewart had previously undertaken two court-ordered offender programmes with no effect on his behaviour.
Stewart, 30, bullied the woman for months and after his arrest he continued to plague her with menacing calls while he was on remand in Perth Prison.
Fiscal depute Lisa Marshall told Dundee Sheriff Court: “He was convicted on five occasions for criminal behaviour against her.”
The mother-of-four moved in secret to a new flat arranged by Women’s Aid, but Stewart tracked her down and subjected her to constant abuse.
The fiscal said: “He turned up unannounced and was emotionally blackmailing her.
“On at least two occasions he spat in her face or on his hand and then rubbed the mucous in her face and hair.
“From the date of his remand he repeatedly contacted her by telephone and letter. From 24 January to 30 June he contacted her 417 times.
“She said she did not want to answer the calls but felt she had to. He instructed her to tell the police she could not remember anything.
“He told her that a male he knew from prison would be keeping an eye on her.”
Stewart admitted engaging in a course of abusive behaviour against the woman between April 1 and August 7 2019. He admitted spitting on his hand and rubbing it on to her head.
He admitted trying to pervert the course of justice by contacting her on 417 occasions between January 24 and June 30 and urging her to tell police she could not remember his previous behaviour.
Stewart, c/o Perth Prison, also admitted two charges of breaching bail by contacting her, including from behind bars while he was being held on remand.
Solicitor Sarah Russo, defending, said: “He accepts he lost his temper when the complainer failed to respond the way he wanted. He does regret his behaviour.
“The majority of calls made to the complainer were during lockdown. He had been on remand with the prison on full lockdown and with no visitors.
“Prisoners were kept in their cells for the vast majority of each day and he describes his mood as particularly low.”
