James was stalked by a former patient who bombarded him with emails and calls before turning up in his garden. 

When I met him, it was on neutral ground – that was important to him.

James was not his real name – we’ve changed it here to protect his identity and filming we did with him for Scotland Tonight was anonymous.

Even though the therapist’s stalker has been sentenced and ordered to stay away, he remains extremely cautious, and it was easy to see why.

The court system was a different experience.

“I was really anxious about going to court to give evidence the first time,” he said.

“After about half an hour of waiting in the room to be called, an officer of the court came in and told me that he was sorry but my case had been adjourned the previous week.

“I couldn’t believe it and I couldn’t believe the disregard and the lack of understanding of the impact this was having on me going through the court system.

“I expected to be empowered by this process I was going to go through, but not even close – I felt like I was treated like an afterthought.

“I felt like I had no power in it.

“I was warned right at the beginning that the defence would ‘string it out as long as possible’ and that is exactly what happened. There was a ‘not guilty’ plea, then four or five adjournments and then, right at the end, they pleaded guilty.”

Even the guilty plea left James feeling let down

Want to see more SNP fails? – Politics Matters