Ex-lawyer David McPherson given 135 hours unpaid work for stalking woman and hounding her with gifts

A former lawyer who hounded a woman with gifts and text messages has been ordered to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work.

David McPherson stalked his female victim between February and May 2020.

The 35-year-old sent the woman flowers to her work at a gym in Glasgow’s Shawlands and continued to bombard her with messages after she rejected him.

McPherson was also found to have groped a 16-year-old girl outside a bank.

McPherson pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to stalking the woman and sexually assaulting the teenager.

Sheriff Charles Lugton ordered McPherson to do 135 hours of unpaid work and tagged him for 90 days, keeping him indoors between 7pm and 7am.

He was also put under supervision and the sex offenders register for two years.

The court heard that McPherson – who practised in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire – initially sent a bunch of flowers and a bottle of champagne to the woman in February 2020.

The accompanying card said: “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

McPherson sent a further bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates 12 days later.

That card with it read: “If you fancy a coffee give me a text, from your secret admirer, David.”

The woman sent a text thanking McPherson for the items to which he responded she was “welcome.”

McPherson sent further messages including two pictures of himself which the victim did not reply to.

He then asked the woman out for a coffee which she replied: “I’m seeing someone else, I wish you all the best.”

McPherson responded that he was “broken hearted” and sent a further message regarding her body before asking to meet her in a park near his former home in Whitecraigs.

Prosecutor Darren Harty said: “This caused her alarm as she goes for walks in that park.

“He sent a further message saying ‘Speak to me…I’m lonely just like you’.

“[The victim] sent McPherson a message saying ‘I told you I’m not interested, stop contacting me’.”

Police were contacted after McPherson made threats to end his life and he was arrested.

The court was then told the 16-year-old was near a Royal Bank of Scotland in Shawlands on April 1, 2020.

Mr Harty said: “McPherson approached the victim from behind and grabbed her by the buttocks.”

Officers attended and he was arrested again.

Garvey McArdle, defending, told the court that McPherson did not meet his adult victim and he got her phone number off her company’s website.

He added: “Mr McPherson is not working currently but is educated to a high standard and wishes to apologise for his behaviour and knows he has gone beyond the level of acceptability.”

A five-year non-harassment order was also granted restricting McPherson’s contact with the woman.