By Alexander Lawrie

Copyright dailyrecord

A disabled author convicted last year of carrying out a hate campaign against his neighbours has admitted behaving in a threatening manner by playing music at excessive volume within his home. David Aston , 57, and his wife Jacqueline, 59, were found guilty of stalking charges against their next door neighbours at a plush estate in North Berwick, East Lothian, following a lengthy trial last year. The Astons made false reports to the police and the local authority and recorded neighbours Catriona Henderson and Stuart McMorris and Marie and Robert Bain on mobile phones on a near daily basis over a three year period. Jacqueline Aston reported neighbour Ms Henderson to the General Teaching Council for Scotland in a bid to wreck her teaching career claiming she was neglecting her children. The former staff nurse also reported Mr McMorris to the council and a mortgage company maliciously claiming he was running a business from his home. The 24 day trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told David Aston had written and self-published a book that featured a character who develops superpowers following a stroke. The main protagonist in the novel A Stroke of Fortune then uses his powers to wreak revenge on his local community. Aston, a former chartered accountant, penned the novel after suffering serious injuries including brain trauma and a massive stroke following a motorway car crash 11 years ago. The pair, who have since moved to Peebles, were effectively forced to sell their £500,00 four-bedroom home after a sheriff imposed a non-harassment order banning them from the street they lived on. The Astons were found guilty of engaging in a course of conduct which caused three sets of neighbours fear and alarm at Blackadder Crescent, North Berwick, East Lothian, between October 2018 and October 2021. The pair appeared back in the dock at the capital court on Friday accused of engaging in a course of conduct which caused the same neighbours fear and alarm by using a mobile phone to record them and placing weeds and bark on their property. They were also alleged to have made offensive remarks about the two couples and repeatedly play music at excessive volume, all between September 27 and November 11 last year. David Aston pled guilty to a reduced charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by repeatedly playing music at an excessive volume and wife Jacqueline had not guilty pleas to all the charges accepted by the Crown. No details of the new offence were read out in open court and Sheriff Wendy Sheehan said she would defer sentence on David Aston for him to appear in front of Sheriff John Cook next month when he has a review of his existing order calling. High school teacher Catriona Henderson, 46, told last year’s trial Mrs Aston had contacted the GTCS to report her for neglecting her children and claiming she was used drugs including laughing gas and crystal meth. Ms Henderson said her neighbour had told the teaching authority she had locked one of her children out in the cold without adequate clothing in the middle of winter. The teacher said the Astons had repeatedly made “malicious” complaints about her family and the local authority alone had received 140 complaints in just five months during 2019. Her partner Stuart McMorris said a complaint was also made to the NSPCC by “an anonymous neighbour” who claimed he and his partner were neglecting and abusing their children. Neighbour Marie Bain, 68, said the Astons had made her life “a misery” due to them using phones and cameras to record her “almost on a daily basis” Mrs Bain said her neighbours raised a court action against her and during the legal process she discovered they had made 248 recordings of her family – including 67 times in just one day. Husband Robert Bain, 65, described the “constant monitoring” as “stalking” and said he was eventually forced to cancel family gatherings in their garden. The engineer said: “We moved to North Berwick to our dream home to retire to, but the dream has turned to a nightmare.” David Aston was subsequently forced to step down from his positions with the East Lothian branch of the Head and Brian Injury charity, the Chest, Heart and Stroke organisation and the Stroke Association. Sheriff Cook told the Astons their behaviour had “involved planning” and had caused the neighbours “very serious distress and significant psychological harm”. Jacqueline Aston was sentenced to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and pay a total of £8000 in compensation to neighbours Catriona Henderson and Stuart McMorris and Marie and Robert Bain. She was also handed a non-harassment order banning any contact with the victims and from Blackadder Crescent in North Berwick for 15 years. David Aston was placed under supervision for three years, ordered to pay Ms Henderson and Mr McMorris £2000 in compensation and told to wear a tag and stay within his home between 6pm and 6am for eight months. He was given a three year non-harassment order with the same conditions as his wife .