A “lonely” stalker forced his terrified victim to flee a Perth supermarket in tears after forcing his attentions on her in a clothing aisle.
The woman had been afforded the protection of the court after Alan Rorrison was convicted of tailing her around the city for months.
He even followed her to a polling station as she voted in the EU referendum, with election officials smuggling her out of a back door to escape him.
The 58-year-old was subsequently banned from any contact with the woman but “blatantly” ignored his non-harassment order to corner her in the city’s Asda store a little more than four months later.
The traumatic incident saw her run from him and dash home from where she called the police who swiftly arrested him.
At Perth Sheriff Court, Sheriff Gillian Wade said she had grave concerns about the woman’s safety, given the failure of the measures put in place for her protection.
Rorrison was told his liberty was in serious jeopardy, though the sheriff said she wanted to see the results of medical reports before imposing sentence.
The non-harassment order was put in place in September last year after Rorrison fixated upon a woman he had apparently spoken to a few times in the street.
The court heard he had “misunderstood” the nature of their relationship, with his social inadequacies thereafter leading to a course of bizarre behaviour.
He tailed her around the city for weeks on end as she became increasingly fearful for her safety until matters came to a head during the EU referendum.
She spotted him lurking outside her polling station and though staff helped her leave by an alternative route he was back on her trail within minutes.
As his victim hurried though the streets, she chanced upon two police officers who spotted Rorrison watching her from behind a parked car.
The woman had hoped her ordeal was over after he was convicted of stalking, only for him to come back into her life in January.
Depute Fiscal Craig Donald said: “She was at the Asda store, in the clothing department, when she was approached by the accused who stopped about a foot away from her and said “I know I’m not supposed to come near you”.
“She ignored him but he continued to speak to her, saying: “I know I wasn’t in my right mind last year. It was out of character”.”
He said the woman had left the store moments later and made her way home “upset and frightened”.
Rorrison, of Muirton Place in Perth, admitted breaching the order on January 16 this year.
Solicitor Rosie Scott said her client had problems with relationships and was a “lonely” and “socially isolated” individual.
She denied he had deliberately sought out his victim, saying: “When he saw her at Asda he was right in front of her and he thought he should apologise.
“It is clear from his conversations with social workers about his behaviour that he does not get it.”
Sheriff Wade said that on the face of it, he was guilty of a “blatant breach of a court order” that made imprisonment a very real possibility.
Deferring sentence upon him until May 3, the sheriff said: “Under no circumstances should you approach this lady. You must stick very clearly to the terms of the non-harassment order.”
