A woman was bombarded for three months by filthy text messages to her mobile phone.
The indecent and offensive messages were sent by Ashley Bell of Bannerfield Drive in Selkirk.
A court was told this week that she decided to change her number and alert police after receiving up to 200 texts – and Bell was caught when officers discovered that he had previously used his phone to contact the police.
Bell, 30, has admitted sending grossly-offensive text messages of an indecent, obscene or menacing character to the woman between August 1 and October 15 last year. Some were of a sexual nature.
Selkirk Sheriff Court heard the woman didn’t know Bell and he told police he thought he was sending the texts to a former neighbour.
Depute procurator fiscal Tessa Bradley revealed that the woman began receiving text messages from a phone number which she didn’t recognise.
The prosecutor said the woman replied to a number of them and established that she did not know who the person was.
“From early August to October last year, she received about 150 to 200 text messages from the same number, and decided not to engage in the messages as she didn’t know who it was.
“At first, she thought the person was just immature, but the volume of inappropriate texts became such that she changed her mobile phone number and reported matters to police.”
The court was told that police officers viewed the messages and investigations revealed that Bell had previously used that mobile number to contact police.
He admitted to police that the phone was his and believed he had been messaging a former neighbour.
In court on Monday, sentence on Bell was deferred till April 28 while social workers prepare background reports.