Man to await sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court over threat to kill woman

A MAN threatened to kill a woman and dispose of her body by feeding it to pigs, Inverness Sheriff Court has heard.

Matthew Baker could face jail when he is sentenced next month.

Baker (40) who now lives in Bremners Walk, Wick, but who used to live in Inverness, was sentenced earlier this year to 240 hours of unpaid work after he was convicted of twice violently shaking a baby in his care and assaulting a teenage boy.

On Wednesday, Baker admitted causing a woman and others to be subjected to crude sexual communications without consent for the purposes of his own sexual gratification.

He also admitted threatening the woman and refusing to allow her to exit a vehicle. All the offences occurred over a two-year period between July 2016 and 2018.

Aside from the remark about feeding her to pigs, depute fiscal Roderick Urquhart said on one occasion in December 2017 Baker pestered the woman for sex against her will. The fiscal told the court: “He called her offensive names and spoke inappropriately in front of children about sex in general. In another incident, when she was a passenger in his car, she told him she wanted to go home but he ignored her and drove to Beauly instead, mocking her as she repeatedly asked to be taken home.”

Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood replied: “It could have been libelled as abduction.”

Deferring sentence for background reports until September 17, Sheriff Fleetwood said the only thing standing between Baker and jail was whether he was suitable for a rehabiliation course for people convicted of domestic abuse.

“It’s the only thing standing between you and a significant prison sentence,” he said.

He placed Baker on the Sex Offenders’ Register, saying there was a significant sexual element to the offences.