Court hears man 'didn't know' tattooist but 'professed his love' for her on Facebook

The prosecutor said: "She didn't want him to contact her. He was professing his love for her, that caused her some distress,” adding: "She doesn't know the defendant at all".

Raymond Laverty (30), with an address listed as Garron Crescent in Larne, was sentenced after pleading guilty to four charges of harassment of three women and a man last summer, some of whom were described in court as people who lived near the defendant.

The prosecutor said there had been "strange behaviour" which made them "uncomfortable" including "standing outside their property staring in the window; making strange hand gestures towards them".

The court was told: "He would leave biscuits on their window sill. He had left T-shirts and other items of clothing outside in their garden".

On another occasion a woman felt "uncomfortable and unsafe" after the defendant "followed her with a petrol strimmer".

A defence solicitor said the defendant had a diagnosis of "paranoid schizophrenia" and when on medication he was "mind-mannered" and "really wouldn't harm anyone" but when not his behaviour is "bizarre".

The lawyer said the defendant "regrets and apologises for any alarm that his behaviour may have caused" and he "means none of these people any harm".

Jailing the defendant for three months, District Judge Nigel Broderick said: "The victims, no doubt, would have been concerned and perplexed in many ways by the nature of your behaviour and what was behind it and that would have caused them, no doubt, some emotional concern".

A two-year Restraining Order was also put in place.

The court heard the defendant was not likely to return to Larne but would go to "supported" accommodation elsewhere.