A stalker couple trained CCTV cameras on their neighbours’ homes and falsely accused them of child abuse and plotting against them in a shocking reign of terror.
Paul McFadyen and Laura McGlinn, both 53, wreaked havoc on a quiet street through their obsessive snooping. The pair were convicted of stalking their neighbours after police uncovered hundreds of hours of CCTV surveillance that was gathered illegally – including footage inside one neighbour’s home.
McFadyen and McGlinn had previously taken their neighbours to court claiming imaginary abuse by other residents of quiet Hartfield Terrace in Paisley. But the tables were turned after the sheriff in that civil case accused them of making up claims against other residents in the street – and ordered them to pay £37,500 in legal costs.
Neighbours Susanne McDowall, 59, and 29-year-old daughter Anne Marie were horrified to be dragged into the civil case, where they were identified as the “nucleus” of the delusional accusations. Among the claims was an accusation they hosted a “hate party” with other members of the street to bully McFadyen and McGlinn.
Susanne – who lives next door to McGlinn and McFadyen in a four-in-a-block flat – said: “We held a wee get-together in the garden, with a Hawaii theme – an Aloha party we called it. It was totally innocent but the next thing we knew was we were being dragged into court by Paul and Laura and accused of hosting ‘hate parties’. That’s what she put in her writ.”
Susanne added: “The writ was page after page of paranoid claims and stuff that was made up against nine neighbours who were generally just going about their lives. We had no choice but to defend ourselves in court and it was a great relief when the sheriff saw through all their nonsense.”
After the civil case hearing last November, Sheriff Thomas McCartney gave a written ruling that threw out McFadyen and McGlinn’s claims.
He wrote: “My assessment of the evidence of the first pursuer (McFadyen) is that he saw every movement of the various defenders through the prism of a perceived conspiracy among the defenders to harass and abuse him and the second pursuer (McGlinn).”
Referring to Susanne and Anne Marie, he said they were accused of being “the nucleus of a harassment campaign and being the brains behind it”.
He added: “They presented as wholly credible and reliable. They each seemed somewhat bemused at their involvement in this court action. The case against them is a construct of the pursuers’ skewed interpretation of events.”
He added: “My conclusion, having seen and heard the pursuers, is that an interdict and power of arrest would be likely to be used as a powerful tool against the defenders with the likelihood of frequent calls to the police to arrest a defender subject to a power of arrest on the flimsiest of grounds.”
The sheriff said two of the nine accused neighbours, John and Pearl Williamson, had become embroiled in a “toxic relationship between neighbours of distrust, suspicion and malice.”
On McGlinn, the sheriff claimed she was “well able to stand up for herself”. He added: “On her evidence her own behaviour was beyond reproach. However, when the police attended, the second pursuer was handcuffed and dragged up and down by police who were threatening to section her. It is remarkable that the police would have proceeded in that way, particularly if her account of the incident is to be accepted.”
The criminal case where McGlinn and McFadyen were convicted centred on the family of Jennifer Morrison, 42, and husband David, 44. Jennifer told the Record how they were targeted by McGlinn and McFadyen after she and husband David, 44, installed a Ring doorbell in June 2018.
Mum-of-two Jennifer said: “We mentioned to Laura that we were getting a Ring security doorbell, with video, and she blew her top, saying we couldn’t fit it, even though it wasn’t pointed at her home. She retaliated by getting a full CCTV system that could actually record images from inside our home, which was upsetting and menacing.
“The cameras were picking up conversations we were having, that were twisting innocent conversations out of context and she was making complaints to the police.”
After McGlinn and McFadyen were charged with stalking, Paisley Sheriff Court heard how they set up a powerful array of five advanced cameras, capable of capturing footage from hundreds of yards away. The court heard how they organised a petition against the Morrison family, seeking signatures on the street and spreading lies about the Morrisons to strangers.
Jennifer said: “It was traumatic, having them film us every minute of the day and twist our every action. They said we were spying on people. The reality is we weren’t interested in them or their lives.”
McFadyen and McGlinn were last year convicted at Paisley Sheriff Court of waging a stalking campaign between February 2019 and November 2020. Sheriff Iona McDonald slapped them both with a non-harassment order, forbidding them from any communication with the Morrison family.
Both were found guilty of directing CCTV cameras at the Morrisons’ home and refusing to reposition the cameras after police instructed them to. McGlinn was also found guilty of repeatedly telling Jennifer Morrison and her mother, June Wilkinson, that she was watching the Morrisons’ two children. They were acquitted of a separate charge of stalking the Williamson family.
A second criminal case against McFadyen and McGlinn, relating to alleged similar offences between October 2020 and January 2022, was last month dropped by prosecutors, who decided it was no longer in the public interest to continue.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
