Description
Kriss Strachan, now 25, was jailed for a further two years for his "aggressive and abusive" conduct and slapped with a 20 year legal ban on contacting or approaching his victim.
A jailed violent sex offender stalked a woman he'd known briefly in his distant past, "obsessing", researching her, writing her love notes from behind bars, and trying to control her life, all while serving a 12-year sentence for raping a 91-year-old.
Kriss Strachan, now 25, was jailed for a further two years for his "aggressive and abusive" conduct and slapped with a 20 year legal ban on contacting or approaching his victim. Strachan met his victim when they were both 16 - at a concert in 2013.
Falkirk Sheriff Court was told on Wednesday, December 14, that they kept in touch for few months, and met just once at her home, whereupon she told him she "did not want to pursue a relationship". The following year Strachan, then 17, committed what a judge called his "cruel and degrading" attack on the 91-year-old, forcing his way into her house in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, pushing her over, threatening to kill her, punching her repeatedly round the head, compressing her neck, removing her clothing, raping her, and infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease.
Then in 2017, two years into his sentence and despite her not having heard from him for three years, the stalking victim suddenly received a letter from Strachan, then in Polmont Young Offenders' Institution, Stirlingshire, later declaring his "love". She replied she was "not interested", the court was told.
Then in November 2018, she found a 15-second voice message from Strachan on her phone. It said: "What's this [I] am hearing about you're engaged to a fucking 40-year-old black guy?
"What's that a' about? You could have f***ing let us know before I was writing letters to you, ya steamer."
In a further message in 2019, he revealed he knew what kind of van her fiance drove and where he lived, and sent her three letters in 2020 - finally saying he was going to be released on a tag and would be "coming to see her" once he was out of jail.
The court heard the victim, now 25, was driven to take an overdose, but confided in her mother and her new partner. Her mother contacted Glenochil Prison, Clackmannanshire, where Strachan had been moved since becoming an adult prisoner, and the prison said they would block his phone.
However the calls and texts continued. Police were called in, and he was arrested and charged.
Appearing by video link from Barlinnie Prison, Strachan, of Bellshill, admitted stalking the woman, now also 25, for more than two years, from November 2018 to February last year (2021) while inside the two Scottish jails -- Polmont and Glenochil. Stephen Biggam, defending, said Strachan was "remorseful".
He said: "Knowing he was within touching distance of being released, he has managed to extend his incarceration by his own stupidity."
Imposing the extra jail tine and the 20-year non harassment order, Sheriff Craig Harries told Strachan that he had been "well aware" the victim did not want to hear from him. He said: "You began to contact the complainer once you were in custody. She made it clear to you by letter and telephone that she did not want contact from you.
"You were well aware from what she said, and her lack of response, that she did not want contact, but over the course of 27 months, you continued. In one of your later letters you even acknowledged she was ignoring your correspondence.
"The contacted contained abusive harassment of her. You aggressively challenged her about her being engaged.
"You provided knowledge about her personal life that you could only have discovered while within the prison. That is a particularly concerning aspect of the case and it shows the obsession that you had.
"In what would always be perceived by her as a threat, you stated you'd be coming to see her on your release. You continued to contact her by phone and letter professing love for her.
"You were, as both the legislation and common sense shows, stalking her. You caused her significant harm, her mental health suffered, she required medical assistance, and she was physically sick with worry.
"You tried to exert control over her life. The offence is significant aggravated by your previous conviction for a brutal sexual offence, and by your committing it from with the confines of prison, where she was entitled to have felt safe from you."
He added that a background report deemed Strachan to pose "a significant risk, particularly to females". Scottish Ministers may also order he should now serve a seven year extension that judge Lord Boyd imposed when he jailed him in 2015.
The judge said the rape had a "truly appalling" impact on the old lady involved. Strachan told police at the time: "I cannot believe I done it. I am scum."