By MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
5 November 2009
IT STARTED as an innocent teenage romance and ended as many do following an argument over nothing.
But if Emma-Jane Robertson thought that was the last she would hear of ex-boyfriend Brian Nicolson, she was mistaken.
What followed was an incredible chain of events which culminated in 20-year-old Nicolson being sentenced this week to almost four years in prison. He pleaded guilty not only to setting fire to his ex-girlfriend's home but to following it up with chilling threats to Emma-Jane and her family from prison.
The family's ordeal is far from over. Emma-Jane's mother revealed today how threats from suspected associates of Nicolson continue to arrive, leaving them too terrified to stay in their Danderhall home.
It is all a far cry from when Emma-Jane, 20, first fell for Nicolson, who had wooed her with phone calls and texts in 2006.
"We met on the streets of Danderhall," said the former St David's High pupil.
"He was the local milkman, he asked for my number and we started texting, getting to know each other and becoming close."
Things soon took a turn for the worse, however.
"For the first six months he was all right, but over the next two-and-a-half years he tried to rule me.
"When he went out I had to stay home, and we used to argue over which friends I was and wasn't allowed to hang around with."
The relationship finally came to an end in April following a fight at a party in Dunfermline.
"It was just one of our usual arguments but I decided I'd had enough," she said. "I finished with him the following day and everything seemed fine.
"On the Monday he texted me asking if he could come and pick up a pair of jogging bottoms so I invited him round the next day – and that's when he set fire to the place."
On Tuesday, 20 April, neighbours watched as Nicolson arrived at the Robertsons' home in Arthur View Terrace, poured petrol on the mat and set fire to the door before running off.
Emma-Jane, who was inside the house with her mother Marilyn, 48, and friend Bev Shepherd, 19, saw the hall filling with smoke and realised that flames had engulfed their front door. The three terrified women fled out the back door.
Firefighters were on the scene within minutes and extinguished the blaze, but the house was left with serious smoke damage. Nicolson was arrested a few days later and remanded in custody.
However, the Robertsons' nightmare had only just started.
Emma-Jane received seven threatening letters, five sent from Saughton Prison and two postmarked from a local Post Office, warning her what would happen if she testified against him.
In one letter Nicolson warned Emma-Jane: "If you want to, keep going to the police. I'll make sure you and your mum won't make court. I'll be in here so I won't get the blame, so make your choice."
He also wrote saying: "Everyone is asking me if I want you killed, I've said not the now. If you don't come or write back you're going to leave me no choice. I don't want you to lose any of your family, but you know I can make it happen – so get the finger out."
The terrified mother and daughter took the letters straight to the police, and were issued with a panic alarm just in case.
"The police said we should take these threats very seriously," said Emma Jane, gravely.
"They said that you never know who he could have met in prison, and that he may have met people that were willing to hurt us.
"The fact that two of them were posted outside the prison meant that he obviously had someone on the outside that was willing to pass on his threats, and maybe carry them out as well."
While the letters have stopped, Emma-Jane has also received threatening e-mails and Bebo messages from associates of Nicolson. Her brother Scott, 28, and sister Lynn, 26, have also received threats of violence.
The ongoing ordeal has left Emma-Jane's family in turmoil.
He mother told how she had quit her job as a sales assistant and had not been back to work since.
"I'm leaving this house next week and registering myself as homeless because I can't stay here any more," said Marilyn.
"I've barely slept a wink since it happened. I lie awake all night wondering if someone is going to set fire to the house again, or come into the house and kill me.
"I can't sleep without sleeping tablets, and I go to bed every night wondering if I'll ever wake up. At least the sleeping tablets knock me out, so that if someone was to kill me in my sleep I wouldn't know what was happening."
Emma-Jane's friend Bev Shepherd has also been put on medication, is undergoing therapy and has not worked since the fire.
"My boss told me that my presence was a danger to his customers and that he had to let me go," she said.
Emma-Jane insists that despite his controlling nature, Nicolson was never violent towards her and the fireraising attack and the threats came out of the blue.
The court heard how Nicolson, who was working as a plumber in East Lothian at the time of the attacks, was "horrified" by his actions in the aftermath of the break-up and had not intended to harm anyone.
Emma-Jane added: "Even after all this time I can't explain why he did it. Only he knows. It's a mystery to me."
POLICE SATISFIED WITH SENTENCE
LOTHIAN and Borders Police said they were satisfied with Nicolson's sentence and hoped it could as come comfort to Emma-Jane.
A spokesman said: "No-one should be made to live in fear for their safety, so we would urge anyone who receives a threatening letter to report it immediately to police."
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said it was powerless to prevent criminals sending letters from prison.
He added: "We cannot open and read prisoners' mail under any circumstances.
"If a person is receiving threatening letters from inside the prison then it is a matter for the police."
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