By ASHLIE McANALLY

A WOMAN obsessed with a reverend has been warned to stay away from him or face jail.

Lisa Hughes, 53, was given a 10-year non-harassment order against Reverend Kevin Francis after a four-year stalking campaign.

She repeatedly emailed and texted the reverend, and on occasions asked for money and to meet up with him.

Hughes, who has a previous conviction from October 2012 for stalking the same man, had been blocked from his emails. But, after sending him a text message after her court case, he discovered Hughes had sent him a number of emails.

Hughes, form Cambuslang, pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to stalking Reverend Francis between April 2012 and November 2016.

Sheriff Tony Kelly told her: “In light of your previous conviction the court could send you to a period of custody.

“I’m not going to do that, but as a direct alternative I’m going to make you subject of a Community Payback Order with one condition that you are under supervision of the social work for a period of two years.”

He added that to “underpin the importance” of complying with the condition and “the court’s disapproval”, he made her subject of a 10-year non-harassment order to prevent her approaching or contacting Reverend Francis.

The court heard Reverend Francis met Hughes when he was teaching at Strathclyde University. And, that his priority is for a no-contact order to be imposed by the court for as long a period as possible.

Defence lawyer John Good said Hughes formed an “intellectual attachment”, not emotional, with the victim.

He said: “She’s still coming to terms with the the whole importance of the case and activities which she undertook."

The lawyer said the messages she sent were “erratic and episodic” and there were a number of difficulties, including illnesses and taking strong medication, going on in her life at the time.

Mr Good added that Hughes attended a service Reverend Francis was giving in a bid to give him a letter she had written, but that was the only contact they'd had – everything else was done “remotely”.