Student admits hounding athlete with text messages and visits after their relationship ended

A spurned student admitted to hounding a Scots sportsman after he dumped her.Morven MacDonald, 20, harassed the athlete including threatening to go to the media with accusations about him.She also bombarded him with texts, turned up at his home, tried to be ‘friends’ with his mother on Facebook and also kept checking his dating app profile.The pair had only dated for a month in 2023.It lead to the victim - who cannot be named for legal reasons - feeling scared and saw him lose weight from the stress of the ordeal.MacDonald has now appeared in the dock at Glasgow Sheriff Court where she pleaded guilty to a single charge of stalking.The University of Edinburgh international relations student, of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, will return to court next month.The harassment took place over an eight day period in October 2023 after the man decided to end the relationship to commit to his studies at the time. Morven MacDonald, 20, harassed the athlete after their relationship came to an endThe court heard the pair had decided to split ‘amicably’ but fiscal Jennifer Sillars told the hearing MacDonald ‘had a problem accepting it being over’.There was contact between the two before the man blocked her on social media following a ‘series of text messages’.She also turned up at his home uninvited asking his flatmate if she could come in to charge her phone but was turned away.When the victim, who was not at the property at the time, heard about the visit, he was left ‘fearful’.The man later got a message that MacDonald was in his local area and did not reply, believing she may turn up at his door again.After another ‘alarming’ message from her, MacDonald warned she would send a ‘wee email’ to his then university.Miss Sillars added: ‘The man thought this was a threat as she knew he was a student.‘She threatened to speak to a journalist if he did not comply or reply to email communication.’MacDonald sent more messages and then also a screenshot of his Tinder profile adding: ‘Dating a while, yeah?’She also tried adding his mum as a ‘friend’ on Facebook despite them having never met. The request was later removed.After police were called in, MacDonald was arrested in November 2023.Erin Monaghan, defending, told the court she is an honours student close to achieving a first in her degree.The lawyer said: ‘She wishes for everyone to move on and she accepts her responsibility.‘She had an error in judgement and was unable to manage her emotions and thinking.‘She dealt with this situation extremely poorly due to her age, poor mental health and stress of the situation.’The lawyer further requested that her client be granted an absolute discharge which would see the matter not appear on her criminal record.The case was deferred for further submissions until next month by Sheriff Bernard Ablett. Advertisement Share or comment on this article: Student admits hounding athlete with text messages and visits after their relationship ended

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