A woman-hating thug who hid beside isolated footpaths and bike tracks and "jumped out" at females taking their coronavirus daily exercise during the first lockdown, was sentenced to more than 15 months imprisonment today.
Mark Russell shadowed and terrified ten women walkers or joggers, across a swathe of Clackmannanshire and part of Fife.
Alloa Sheriff Court heard he Russell, 34, held "extreme, misogynistic views" about women - and had been identified since primary school as having a personality disorder and problems with empathy and authority.
Sheriff Neil Bowie, who jailed him for 462 days, said all his victims were females, either alone or in pairs, sometimes with their children.
He said: "The locations were isolated, on the majority of the occasions the first lockdown was in force, social distancing rules applied, and there was limited time for exercise.
"You have clearly demonstrated no remorse - indeed the opposite. It's been described that you have a very misogynistic attitude towards women."
The court heard that during a "weird and alarming" six month campaign, one 60 year old woman Russell targeted became "so unsettled" that she feared to go out alone.
Prosecutor Susannah Hutchison said: "In December 2019 she became aware of him passing on his bicycle and entering a wooded area near her home.
"She initially thought his behaviour was unusual. As the weeks passed, she became aware of him stepping out behind her as she passed."
One evening in January, 2020, as she was returning home about 9.10 pm, he stepped out then walked "very close" behind her for 30 yards.
It got so bad she would not leave her house alone.
Russell was traced and warned but less than two months later, however, two women, aged 40 and 44, saw Russell "turn to face them" as they were out running on an old railway line near Dollar.
He "so unsettled them" that they immediately turned and run back the way they'd come.
After a full mile they suddenly heard footsteps behind them and Russell then ran between them. "Fearful", they slowed to let him get ahead.
Ms Hutchison said: "He then also slowed, so they slowed further. This continued, with the accused slowing to the pace of the women until all three were at walking pace."
The following month a 46-year-old mother, walking with her children on the same old rail track, found Russell less than three feet behind her.
She kept increasing her pace but was continually matched by Russell, who remained "uncomfortably" close behind her.
Eventually she and her children were running, and Russell was running too, "adjacent and in close proximity".
The mother then slowed to a walk. Russell "ran on for three or four metres, then also slowed to a walk".
Eventually he turned up some steps, then turned back, and walked straight towards and then past the woman, who was "by now very fearful".
On April 21st 2020, about 4.25 pm, he shadowed and terrified an 18-year-old girl on Back Road, Dollar, before hiding in bushes.
On May 3rd, 2020, he was arrested and released after giving an undertaking that he would "stay away" from cycle paths and popular walking routes.
He breached this only four days later, lurking in bushes beside the Clackmannan to Dunfermline West Fife Way cycleway, "staring" at two 28-year-old women walkers, "appearing, looking towards them, returning to the bushes" then following them closely, "mirroring their pace".
He also "scared" a 31 year old woman running on the same Devon Way cycle track with her 11-month-old baby in a buggy; a 52-year-old woman walking home in Alva one evening from a parish church meeting; and a 58 year old woman who was running alone on a country road near the Linn Mill Bridge landmark, over the Black Devon River.
In this case, Russell, having concealed himself near the historic bridge, wordlessly emerging as she passed.
Ms Hutchison said: "The way he jumped out gave her a fright, and made her feel uneasy."
She ran off as fast as she could, and after reading about similar incidents, contacted police.
Russell, of Dollar, Clackmannanshire appeared for sentence by video link after pleading guilty in October [2021] to eight offences of threatening behaviour and a ninth of breaching an undertaking, all between November 21st 2019 and May 7th 2020.
Solicitor Erin Monaghan, defending, said Russell's behaviour was "weird and alarming."
She said: "He has been treated since primary school for antisocial behaviour, problems with empathy, authority, and being isolated, and has been diagnosed with a personality disorder.
"His views are extreme.
"They cannot be described in any other way - they really are extreme.
"He has anger problems; his offending is very, very specific; and it's concerning."
Sheriff Bowie ruled at an earlier hearing that there was "a significant sexual element" to Russell's crimes.
