Sentence has been deferred for three months on a Forres man who admitted launching a torrent of abuse at his supervisor after being sacked from his call-centre job.
Matthew Tortice, 28, appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court on Thursday after previously admitting he had sent a series of email messages to his female supervisor at the Capita call centre in Forres.
Tortice had been informed he had to clear his desk on April 7 as he was being dismissed in part because of a poor disciplinary record. While his supervisor was not present when he left, she later received a series of threatening messages including one in which he said: “I hope that when you drive home this evening you crash into a tree and die.”
Further messages appeared throughout the day with Tortice telling the woman that he hoped she would die of cancer and that he would celebrate her funeral.
Police were contacted as the supervisor became increasingly frightened by the messages, with Procurator Fiscal Alison Wyllie telling the court: “She was extremely concerned and distressed and took these threats very seriously.”
Defence solicitor Ian Warburton said: “My client was very upset that day about the fact he had lost his job. He was taking his anger out on her but he now fully appreciates that it was totally the wrong way to go about things.”
Sheriff Susan Raeburn deferred sentence on Tortice for three months to allow her to asses his progress – he will return to court on October 23.