A MAN who stalked an Ardrossan family for more than a year by spying on them with a drone has been jailed.

Stuart William Shedden was locked up for six months last week after being found guilty of terrorising an Ardrossan family by flying a drone over their farmhouse and spying on them.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard how Shedden, 43, had flown the device above the family’s home on various occasions between June 7 2016 and February 19 2017, at a woman’s property in Ardrossan.

Shedden also slashed her tyres and made a malicious phone call to the police reporting an ongoing robbery at the woman’s property on Christmas Day which saw police attend the home at 5am.

The court also heard he had seen his victim in Hamilton Street in Saltcoats, he stared at her and gestured towards her.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard that Shedden was friendly with a family who had a dispute about land with the family he victimised.

According to a national newspaper, Shedden had previously victimised the family years before when they first encountered him shooting an air rifle on the land around their property.

The family contacted police but were told there was nothing they could do.

Shedden’s behaviour became more sinister, however and in October 2011 when he called the family’s home more than 100 times in just two months.

He was eventually prosecuted in 2012, and ordered not to contact his victim, however, after the court case, he immediately began harassing them again.

The woman told a reporter: “He just started using payphones. I think if he hadn’t been allowed to shoot in the area, the problem may not have got to where it did. When you feel threatened by someone and you know they could be walking about with a gun, it’s unsettling.”

Despite his conviction, Shedden’s stalking continued with him shining laser pens into bedrooms in the family’s home and eventually, last year culminated in him flying a drone over their property and filming them.

Sheriff Shirley Foran described Shedden’s behaviour as “disturbing and distressing.”