A student who threatened to post intimate pictures of his former lover online, to cut the brake pipes on her sister's car, and to put her parents in hospital was today facing possible jail.
Matthew Hughes, 22, rowed with his then partner Siobhan Sutherland after she found out on Facebook that he had begun a relationship with a new partner.
Siobhan, 19, then moved back in with her mum, but she returned to their shared flat in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, in March 2019 "in an attempt to work things out".
However, Falkirk Sheriff Court was told, the couple then argued daily, with Hughes "punching holes in the walls" leaving Siobham "terrified".
She decided once again to quit the flat and return to her parents, but Hughes told her that as she was working and he was a student, and it was she who was leaving, she would have to pay him.
For several weeks, Siobhan met Hughes once a week in Falkirk town centre and gave him money for the rent of the flat, but eventually the couple met in Callendar Park, Falkirk, and she told him she wanted to cut all ties
The court heard that this "enraged" Hughes, and the couple tussled with each other in the park. During the struggle, he collided with a tree and she fell to the ground, cutting her ear.
Between May 25th and 30th, 2019, he bombarded Siobhan with messages, stating that if she did not speak to him or give him money for the flat he would leave personal images and screenshots of her on social media.
Cheryl Clark, prosecuting, said: "Due to these threats, Miss Sutherland, accompanied by her sister, met the accused in Falkirk bandstand.
"She collected her jewellery box from him, and he then forced her to delete the messages he'd sent her, and threatened her, saying that if she told anyone about the events that had occurred between them he would put her parents in hospital and slit the brake pipes on her sister's car.
"He continued to message her in the following days, demanding money for the flat and for her to speak to him, threatening to release personal images of her on social media."
In a phone call in June 2019, which Siobhan's mother was able to record, he then threatened to "expose every single image" of her unless she paid him money.
Hughes, of Standburn, Stirlingshire, pleaded guilty on indictment to attempted extortion, and committing a statutory breach of the peace.
Solicitor Gordon Addison, defending, said: "You have to appreciate that, contextually, there are two sides to this."
Sheriff Keith O'Mahony deferred sentence for reports until August 25th, and released Hughes on bail.
