Daughter of murdered Isil hostage David Haines stalked by her ex

The daughter of murdered Islamic State hostage David Haines was terrorised by a former boyfriend in a six-month campaign of hate.

Bethany Haines, whose father was executed by notorious Isil killer Jihadi John, was left devastated as Andrew Murray, 22,  Murray subjected her to abuse.

Murray was due to go on trial before a jury at Perth Sheriff Court but changed his plea at the last minute to admit carrying out a lengthy stalking campaign.

He admitted that throughout his relationship with Miss Haines he caused her fear or alarm by subjecting her to constant controlling behaviour.

Murray, from Perth, admitted stalking the 20-year-old student in the Perthshire town of Coupar Angus between April 1 and October 3, 2016.

During the sinister bullying campaign, Murray tampered with the contacts book on her mobile phone so he could pose as another one of her friends.

He then duped Miss Haines into having text conversations with him when she believed she was talking to a completely different person.

The charge he admitted detailed how he "defaced a scrapbook containing photographs of her late father".

Murray, whose obsessive behaviour started shortly after they began dating, also secretly sent partially naked pictures of Miss Haines to his friend Sam Akli.

A source close to the case said: "Andrew Murray was a control freak and his contribution to this 'relationship' was completely toxic.

"After all that Bethany has been through, this would have been the last thing she needed. She must have been particularly horrified when he trashed her scrapbook. That is cruel beyond belief."

Murray admitted instructing Miss Haines to remove male friends from her Facebook account, and repeatedly shouting and swearing at her.

He punched holes in walls and doors and constantly bombarded Miss Haines with accusations that she had been unfaithful to him.

Murray also went on wrecking sprees in the mother-of-one's home and smashed lamps, coffee tables and photo frames and terrified her by threatening to hurt himself.

Fiscal depute Sue Ruta told the court Murray had no previous convictions and that full details of the case would be given to the court later this week.

She said: "A very lengthy narration is anticipated, given the charge and the timescale involved in what the accused has pled guilty to."

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis confirmed he would hear the details of the case on Wednesday. Outside court, Miss Haines declined to comment on the case.

Last week, Miss Haines posted a social media message marking the third anniversary of hearing how her father had died in horrific circumstances after being held hostage for months.

In the touching post, she wrote: "Three years ago I was woken up with the awful news that a video of my Dad's death had been released online.

"In those moments my whole world collapsed and even three years on it still feels the same.

"They say with time it gets easier, but it really doesn't. You just learn to deal with it.

"It kills me that my Dad will never see his grandson, that we'll never have any more ice-cream movie nights and he'll never get to lecture me about doing well at college.

"Taken far too soon and it's now up to me to help stop anymore families from ever feeling what I'm feeling. Love you Daddy, fly high."

David Haines, 44, was beheaded by the terrorist dubbed Jihadi John in September 2014. He was the first Briton to die in the killer's propaganda videos.

Miss Haines has described how she turned to alcohol, drugs and self-harm to numb the torment of his abduction by Islamic State and the subsequent 17 months he was held hostage.

She said: "I began to hurt myself. I kept thinking about the torture Dad went through. I wanted to feel his pain."

Former RAF engineer David, from Scone, was in Syria helping civil war victims when he was snatched by the fanatics in Aleppo in March 2013.

David was living in Croatia with second wife Dragana and their daughter Athea, four, when he was kidnapped just days into his humanitarian mission.

London-born Jihadi John, 27 - real name Mohammed Emwazi - killed seven Westerners on camera before he was finally killed in a US drone strike.