A CELEBRITY auctioneer bombarded a young woman police officer with texts and messages after she ended their relationship, a court has heard.

Married William Paterson, 44, accused Special Constable Jay Goodwillie, 27, of cheating on him and messaged her: "Go out and get stabbed tonight, you selfish cow."

Miss Goodwillie, of Stirling, who is also a trainee solicitor, told the city's sheriff court that she got the message before she was due to go on duty on February 28 2014 - and could not go because she was in "such a state" as a result.

The court heard Miss Goodwillie had broken up with Paterson, who is 17 years her senior, months before.

She said: "I just couldn't take his controlling and jealous behaviour any more. I just couldn't do anything without being accused of cheating on him."

Then on a night out in Ayr to celebrate her aunt's 50th birthday, she met a new man, whom she named as Stuart Hill.

She said: "I think that's what really kicked it off with him, that I had found somebody else."

Paterson sent her threatening messages from a Facebook site. One message he sent her came with a profile picture that showed him posing with members of former boyband Westlife.

On Valentine's Day 2014 he messaged her: "We were a couple for over two years. I really don't deserve this. I want a reply or be ready for a backlash."

When she went to Ayr for her gran's birthday, he found out what hotel she was staying in and sent flowers, strawberries, cards, and a bottle of Prosecco.

She thought it was one of several attempts he had made to get her back.

She said: "I was shocked and annoyed. I thought why can't you just leave it.

"Mum had given him the details and hotel. I said 'No, mum, it's not nice'. I felt I couldn't get away from him. He just wouldn't leave me alone."

The court heard that she met Mr Hill, also a special constable, in a bar in Ayr that night. They kissed, and she later added him as a friend on Facebook.

Mr Hill then got a message from Paterson that read: "Stuart, I'd like to know why you are friends all of a sudden with the girl I have been seeing for the last two years. What are you doing joining with her on Facebook when she is from Stirling and you are from Ayr? Anything you want to tell me? I am an angry man. I'll come down with a car load of gang guys to get the answer... looking forward to hearing from you as soon as possible."

He also messaged Miss Goodwillie, saying: "Karma will return one day".

Miss Goodwillie wept as she recalled how on February 28 2014 she had not been fit to go on duty as a special constable because, she said, of Paterson's messages.

She said: "He was basically telling me to go out for the police and go and get stabbed - pretty low to be honest.

"I was in an absolute state, it had been constant all day.

"I went in [to the police station] for advice from my sergeant. Once I had shown my sergeant what was on my phone I was told the complaint would be going ahead with or without my statement."

Prosecutor Gail Russell produced to the court a printout of Paterson's own website - The Charity Auctioneers.

It boasted: "William is well known throughout Scotland for his charity auctions and has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds over the past 15 years for some of the most well known charities in Scotland including Scottish Spina Bifida Assocation, The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Bobath Scotland, and The Variety Club of Great Britain, in addition to numerous private and corporate events.

"William is privileged to be the auctioneer of choice to [the] Manchester United Foundation, Glasgow Rangers Foundation, The Gordon Ramsay Gala Ball, Duncan Bannatyne Questionable Ball, Glasgow Rangers Football Club, West Sound Radio Cash for Kids [and] Erskine Hospital."

Paterson, of Causewayhead, Stirling, denies engaging in a course of conduct that caused Miss Goodwillie fear and alarm between February 16 and March 1 last year, and posing as a police officer to try to get intimate details of her relationship with two other men, one of them Mr Hill.

His offer to plead guilty to using threatening an abusive behaviour over a shorter period, February 26 to 28, was rejected by the Crown.

The summary trial, before Sheriff Wyllie Robertson, sitting alone, without a jury, continues.