'Threatening' letter sent to council leader as last resort

Amanda McCutcheon is on trial for allegedly stalking Ms Aitken between January and March this year

An aggrieved woman wanted to get the leader of Glasgow City Council's attention when she sent her an alleged threatening letter, a court heard.

Amanda McCutcheon claimed she wanted to speak to Susan Aitken about her flat and felt she had run out of options.

The mother-of-two is on trial for allegedly stalking Ms Aitken between January and March this year.

Ms McCutcheon, 46, said her eldest child is unable to live with her in Dennistoun, Glasgow.

'Death wish'

Glasgow Sheriff Court also heard she has been in temporary accommodation since January 2011.

Ms McCutcheon accepted she sent her a letter with the phrase "I was wondering if you a have a death wish".

But she claimed she was asking if Ms Aitken wanted a death on her conscience and it wasn't a threat.

McCutcheon posted comments on social media about Ms Aitken, and turned up at the City Chambers in Glasgow city centre to try and speak to her.

She allegedly told social care worker, Karen McDonald, she was going to "kick" Ms Aitken's head in, an allegation Ms McCutcheon denies.

'Angry and frustrated'

Asked about the tenement flat she lives in she described it as "dilapidated" and "disgusting".

McCutcheon told the court she sent a letter to Ms Aitken by recorded delivery on 30 January.

Defence lawyer Ian Sievwright asked McCutcheon: "Can you explain why you sent that letter to the leader of Glasgow City Council?"

She replied: "By that time I sent this letter, I was so angry and frustrated with the system, the people I had been dealing with.

"I had no option but to contact the leader of Glasgow City Council with an angry letter warning that there was a situation arising and it wasn't going to be good."

She was asked what she meant when she wrote: "I was wondering if you have a death wish".

McCutcheon said: "I mean does she want to have a death on her conscience, mine."

She said: "That's the way I felt, I have been through every emotion, I have felt suicidal, I have felt frustration, anger, let down, all sorts of things."

Stalking charges

On 2 March McCutcheon was arrested by police who took her from her flat to Baird Street police office where she was later charged with stalking Ms Aitken.

Officers claimed McCutcheon threatened to attack Ms Aitken the following Monday if they kept her in over the weekend, but in her evidence she denied this allegation.

The court also heard evidence that McCutcheon turned up to Glasgow City Chambers on 21 February where she swore at staff and "demanded" to see Ms Aitken.

McCutcheon denies the charge and the trial before sheriff Lindsay Wood continues.