Scots football starlet who 'controlled' ex forced her to delete Instagram and stop seeing friends

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A former Scots football scholarship starlet who subjected his girlfriend to a course of controlling domestic abuse that lasted nearly seven months has been spared jail after a sheriff heard how injury had ended his hopes of a career in the game and left him with mental and physical "issues".

Calvin Gray, 25, whom a court was told trained with Valencia and Villarreal as well as Dunfermline FC, became "insecure and jealous" during his relationship with 24-year-old Emerald Jeffrey.

He "constantly" checked up on her, repeatedly looked through her mobile phone, and repeatedly accused her of speaking to other men.Things got so bad she closed down her social media accounts during what was described as was a "course of abusive behaviour" by Gray.

Prosecutor James Moncrieff told Falkirk Sheriff Court: "He'd be constantly calling and texting her and if she didn't respond in time he'd question why she hadn't done so. "As a result of his behaviour she decided to delete her Snapchat and and Instagram accounts to minimise the chances of him being jealous."This progressed over time and she would be seeing her family and friends less and less and when there was an arrangement to meet she'd often cancel for different reasons."Miss Jeffrey, 24 finally told him their relationship was over in April last year (2021), and she then began to receive unwanted emails from him.In them, he called her a "s***", accused her of being with other men, and "generally blamed her for their separation".He also wrote her a letter, begging her to take him back, and apologising for his behaviour.Mr Moncrieff said: "She read about a quarter of the letter before she began feel sick and had to stop."After further unwanted email contact, Miss Jeffrey called in