Kelso 25-year-old given unpaid work order for breach of non-harassment order

McRae Fairbairn, of Grovehill in Kelso, pleaded guilty to telephoning his ex on June 16 in defiance of a court order.

Fiona Hamilton, prosecuting, told Jedburgh Sheriff Court that the woman received a telephone call after 11pm on the same day that a non-harassment order had been imposed protecting her.

She explained: “It was a withheld number, so when she answered it, she recorded it.

“The caller said ‘you know who it is’ and the woman told him he was not allowed to contact her.”

Fairbairn told police he admitted the offence but was under the mistaken impression that he was still able to phone her though not to visit her.

In addition to a 12-month community payback order involving unpaid work, sheriff Peter Paterson increased the length of the non-harassment order against Fairbairn to five years, telling him that sentence was a direct alternative to custody.