A Ninewells nurse was given a rape alarm by police after being subjected to creepy phone calls by a man she did not know.
Mark Cooney has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register after harassing three women, who were unknown to him, over a three-year period.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Cooney would ask the women if they would like to be “wined and dined” as well as asking what they were wearing.
The creep managed to obtain the phone number of one woman’s elderly relative’s home, as well as finding out the ward she worked on at Ninewells Hospital.
He claimed other people made the calls on his mobile phone and partner’s landline but could not reveal their identities because they were drug dealers.
However, a sheriff did not believe Cooney’s version of events and found him guilty of three charges.
Sick calls begin
None of the women knew Cooney but received the calls at their workplaces.
The staff nurse, 33, told the court Cooney was so convincing she initially believed she knew him.
“He asked me if I liked to be wined and dined and if I wanted to go on a date,” she said.
“He was saying we had a mutual friend and making out I knew who he was.
“He asked me if he bought me a dress, would I wear it and what colour would I like.
“I really believed it was someone that I knew or maybe my friends had set me up.
“I spoke to my friend and she said she never gave my number out.
“I started to feel a bit sick because he mentioned details about my gran’s house.”
Cooney also asked the woman sexually explicit questions.
Rape alarm and escorted to car
A few months later, Cooney then called the hospital ward where she was working at 3am.
She said: “Almost instantly I panicked thinking, ‘why do you know where I work?’
“Again, it was the same type of conversations.
“My colleagues could see I was agitated and I hung up on him.
“He then phoned again and my colleague answered.
“He asked what nurses were on, said he was a hospital porter and would be down in a minute.
“This made me feel very uncomfortable so I contacted the police.
“I was given a rape alarm, which made me feel they thought there was some kind of threat.
“People were walking me to my car and I hate that somebody has managed to make me feel like that.”
Second and third victims
Two other women told how they received similar inappropriate calls from Cooney at the accountancy firm where they worked in Dundee.
The court was shown Cooney’s interview with police officers but none of the women were able to positively identify his voice.
Cooney, of Anderson Court, Carnoustie, was convicted of causing the first woman fear and alarm by phoning her home and place of work and trying to engage in a conversation between January 1 and December 31, 2015.
He was found guilty of behaving in a similar manner towards a second woman between March 1 and June 4, 2015, as well as asking a series of personal questions.
Between September 20, 2017 and February 11, 2018, Cooney repeatedly phoned the third woman at Ninewells Hospital and an address occupied by her, trying to engage her in conversation, asking personal questions and making remarks of an inappropriate and sexual nature.
Sheriff Paul Brown deferred sentence on Cooney until next month for social work reports to be prepared.
He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
