A man once accused of murdering his own father is facing jail – after he was convicted of standing outside a teenager’s bedroom in the dead of night and shining a torch in the window while wearing a doctor’s coat.
James Donaldson – who appeared in court in 1995 accusing of murdering his dad Harry Murray before being released after 76 days on remand – faces a lengthy jail sentence after being convicted of a bizarre campaign of harassment towards the teenager.
Convicted sex attacker Donaldson previously served a four-year prison term for a serious sexual assault on a teenage boy in 1989.
He now faces a new sentence after a jury found him guilty of following the teenage boy, sending him a creepy letter, shining a torch in his bedroom, staring at him and approaching him over the course of more than a year.
A three-day trial at Dundee Sheriff Court heard of a string of incidents that left the boy and his mother terrified.
A jury was told how Donaldson developed an infatuation with the boy and was caught repeatedly walking past his home, through the garden in the middle of the night and shining a torch in the windows.
In one incident Donaldson was spotted standing directly outside the boy’s bedroom window in the middle of the night wearing a doctor’s coat and shining the torch in his window.
Over a period of weeks he was seen staring at the boy in the street and on one occasion walked up to him at a bus stop and tried to engage him in conversation.
On another occasion Donaldson – who has repeatedly made calls to be formally cleared of his dad’s killing – sent the boy a letter signed with a kiss.
Donaldson, 52, a prisoner at Perth, was found guilty of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner at various streets in Dundee on various occasions between October 1 2016 and December 4 2017.
Sheriff Lorna Drummond deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and remanded him in custody meantime.
She earlier told Donaldson to “expect a significant custodial sentence”.
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