A COWDENBEATH man’s stalking of his ex-partner led to him following her down the street late at night after she left a local bar.

Shaun Kippen ignored the woman telling him repeatedly to leave her alone and bombarded her with messages.

When she blocked his number, he then attempted to contact her through her place of work.

Kippen, 33, of Blamey Crescent, appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that between September 1 and October 20 last year at Greenmount, High Street, Westburn Avenue and Dalbeath Crescent, all Cowdenbeath, he engaged in a course of conduct which caused his ex-partner fear or alarm by repeatedly sending her text messages, social media messages and emails in which he made threatening remarks, attempted to engage her in conversation, watched her, followed her, shouted and swore – all in the knowledge that this contact and communication was not wanted.

Depute fiscal Katherine Fraser said the couple were in a relationship for around two years, ending in July last year.

After the break-up, the woman began receiving messages from him. She had made it clear that she didn’t want to speak to him.

When she blocked his number, he then tried to contact her via her work’s Facebook page. He then found an email address for her and tried again to contact her.

The woman was on a night out with a friend at Partners’ nightclub in Cowdenbeath when she spotted Kippen was also there.

“He tried to speak to her but she told him to stay away from her,” the depute continued.

She decided she would leave because of his presence and had intended to take a taxi home but could not find one.

She decided she would walk home. Kippen followed her out and as the woman walked along the street heading home he came running behind her.

She then phoned the police and Kippen reacted by shouting at her: “F*** you.”

Defence solicitor Peter Robertson said that at the time of the offending, his client was “a man with a broken heart”.

Sheriff Charles MacNair said: “Stalking is an invidious offence which becomes very frightening and can cause significant harm to the victim.”

The sheriff pointed out that Kippen had a previous conviction from 2015 for “precisely this sort of behaviour”.

He imposed a community payback order with 225 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month non-harassment order.