Ashley Boyd, 26, confessed to a charge of stalking and pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court

A former police officer who became 'fixated' with a married man and launched a campaign of harassment against him and his wife has been jailed for 11 months and given a five year non-harassment order.

Ashley Boyd, 26, confessed to a charge of stalking and pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice by convincing a friend to confess to the stalking she had done.

Kevin O'Connor, who used to be married to a former friend of Boyd, was tormented between March 2015 and October 2016 by Boyd who hacked his email and social media accounts.

Boyd, of Moodiesburn, Lanarkshire, gained access to his Facebook account and changed his relationship status to single and also posted offensive tweets about Mr O'Connor's wife from his Twitter account.

She even cancelled a hospital appointment for the man's wife while she was working for Police Scotland.

Upon sentencing, sheriff Paul Crozier said: 'Your conduct throughout this whole sorry episode has been destructive, self-serving and manipulative.'

Speaking outside after the sentencing, Mrs O'Connor said: 'I am relieved, I actually can't believe it.

'It has been an absolute nightmare, my health suffered, I have been ill constantly.

'This is punishment, we will be able to move on.'

Boyd and O'Connor used to work together at Boots, before Boyd joined Police Scotland, but their friendship deteriorated by 2013.

Boyd resigned in March 2015 and joined Police Scotland later that year. She resigned from the force in December 2016.

It has been an absolute nightmare

In January 2014, while serving Mr O'Connor at Boots, Boyd told him she knew his wife and hinted a number of women in the shop 'fancied' him. They used the same gym and Boyd told a friend she had a 'fancy for him' and went to the gym knowing he would be there.

In 2016, the O'Connors were on holiday when his sister texted him to say his Facebook page had been changed to say he was single.

He also received a text from a colleague saying she had a 'strange' conversation on Facebook. The woman claimed Mr O'Connor told her he was unhappy in his marriage and asked if it was him she had been speaking to.

Prosecutor Andrew Beadsworth said: 'Boyd appears to have become fixated upon Kevin O'Connor.'

Ashley Boyd was given a five non-restraining order and sentenced to 11 months in jail for her campaign of abuse against Kevin O'Connor

Les Brown, head of the criminal allegations against the police division, said: 'Ashley Boyd placed an innocent couple in a state of fear and alarm through her criminal behaviour.

'There was no justification for the abusive messages and the invasion of their personal lives.

'Boyd's decision to exploit a friend to evade investigation and prosecution exacerbated the tremendously difficult situation she had created.'

The 26-year-old is believed to have resigned from Police Scotland during the investigation.