Ex-nurse guilty of catfishing scam for third time

Adele Rennie was convicted for similar offences in 2017 and 2019

A former nurse who previously posed as a man to target women online has been convicted of similar offences for a third time.

Adele Rennie, 33, pleaded guilty at Kilmarnock Sherriff Court to causing a woman fear and alarm while pretending to be a male pharmacist.

In 2017, she was jailed for 22 months after posing as a man online to trick women into sending her naked pictures.

And just months after her release in 2019, Rennie was sentenced to three years for pretending to be a wealthy lawyer using the Tinder dating site.

She will be sentenced in September and will remain in prison until then.

On Tuesday the court heard how the victim matched with a person claiming to be a male pharmacist on Tinder and they exchanged mobile numbers.

Rennie then contacted the victim through text messages, emails and calls using a voice-changing application that made her sound like a man.

She sent the woman pictures of her home and workplace, which alarmed the victim and made her feel like she was being followed.

Rennie admitted sending her gifts, obtaining her personal information and carrying out internet searches for her.

Adele Rennie admitted causing the victim fear and alarm

She also admitted to sending the same woman a picture of male genitalia.

Police Scotland were alerted to concerns that Rennie was re-offending and searched her home in November.

After finding a phone with the email address and pictures linked to the fake dating profile, she was charged by officers.

Sheriff Nicola Patrick described Rennie’s pattern of behaviour as "alarming".

Her solicitor Neil McPherson asked the court to allow time for the preparation of background reports, including a psychological assessment.

Det Insp Stephen McGrath, of Police Scotland, said: “We hope this case sends out a clear message that such crimes will not be tolerated, and we would encourage anyone with concerns about behaviour online to report them."

Rennie first pled guilty to pretending to be a man to lure women into romantic relationships in 2017.

At the time she worked as a nurse at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, and targeted women through dating sites and social media.

The court heard how she lured some women into sending intimate pictures which she used to threaten them if they cut contact.

She was put on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Months after she left prison for her first conviction, Rennie was jailed for a similar offence in 2019.

During this case, the court heard how she had used a voice-changing app to maintain the ruse.

'It's more than just catfishing'

Former Miss Scotland finalist Abbie Draper started receiving messages from a person claiming to be called David Graham in 2014.

He said he was the physiotherapist for her grandad who was being treated in Crosshouse Hospital after having a stroke.

She soon discovered it was in fact Adele Rennie - a nurse who was looking after her grandad.

Ms Draper, 34, said Rennie had "taken away" the last memories she had of her grandad.

"I don’t think she even cares," she told BBC Scotland News.

"The stress of having to take my grandad out of that hospital and find another one, it wasn’t nice at all."

Ms Draper did not send any sexual images to Rennie and was not a victim of stalking.

But she offered support to other victims who contacted her after she spoke out about her experience.

Ahead of the most recent case, she received a message from someone who had seen a similar story in a Facebook group.

Ms Draper said she was alerted to one particular post which "was almost identical to stories Adele had used before" and she contacted the police.

She added: "This isn’t just catfishing, it’s a lot more than that.

"It's not right and people shouldn’t accept it.

"What Adele's done isn’t right and if other people are thinking about doing it, just don’t.

"It just goes to show you that the police and the court system are taking it seriously now, where you are getting a jail sentence, whether you're a woman or a man."