A FORMER Stevenston soldier stalked his ex-girlfriend 30 years his junior at her workplace after they split up - believing she had been leading “a double life” while they were together.

James Reid, 62, had been in a relationship with the 29-year-old, and the pair had lived together.

But she eventually broke off their relationship and he feared she was seeing someone else.

He began hounding the woman after a chance stop-off for food revealed where she was working.

Reid, of Hayocks Road, Stevenston, discovered she was working at a Chinese takeaway in Bishopton, Renfrewshire.

He then began attending at her work on a regular basis, but never approached her or spoke to her.

The details emerged this week when Reid appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court over his antics following the split.

He had been on trial over his antics but, following his ex-partners evidence, he pleaded guilty to a charge of engaging in a course of conduct which caused her fear and alarm by repeatedly attending her workplace.

He admitted carrying out the stalking campaign between August 8 and September 19, 2015, in breach of Section 39(1) of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

Defending, Chris McKenna said: “After she left there were large unpaid bills. He was formerly in the Armed Forces and a charity which assists veterans paid the bill for him to prevent him being taken to court.

“There is a substantial age gap between them and he felt humiliated and felt very foolish. One of the reasons he attended her work was because of the bills and also because he felt he deserved an explanation.”

Sheriff Seith Ireland deferred sentence on Reid for six months for him to be of good behaviour for what he termed “a serious matter.”