Former police officer 'threw eggs at neighbours'

Claire Horsley, a former officer with Leicestershire Police, targeted police officers Elizabeth Moss and Thomas Clark who live nearby, Cannock Magistrates Court heard.

The 37-year-old of St Marys Road, Little Haywood, Stafford, had previously been found guilty of harassing her ex-husband's new wife.

A former colleague also told a court how she was bombarded with abusive messages and more than 70 phone calls a day by Horsley after their friendship dwindled.

Joanne Mellor-Shaw worked with Horsley at Walsall Council as a community safety officer and later for the department of Environmental Health.

Horsley, aged 37, began working at the council in 2006 after leaving Leicestershire Police Force in 2002.

Mrs Mellor-Shaw told Cannock Magistrates Court yesterday: "We became friends, but in 2008 Claire was sectioned by her ex-husband. I went to visit her and she came home with me for four days. At the time I lived with my mother.

"After that our friendship diminished and although she tried to rekindle it, I did not want to take it any further. It was then that she made complaints against me.

"She was dismissed from work in September 2012, but in December I started getting abusive text messages from her and over 70 phone calls a day. She visited my mother and began kicking her door."

Cannock Magistrates Court heard that Horsley, of St Mary's Road, Little Haywood, Stafford, had previously been found guilty of harassing her ex-husband's new wife.

She faces charges of harassment without violence to Mrs Mellor-Shaw and two neighbours, Elizabeth Moss and Thomas Clark, who are officers with West Midlands Police.

The court heard that their home and cars were covered in food, like eggs and coleslaw.

Horsley denies three charges of harassment without violence and three charges of intimidating a witness.

Paul Cliff, defending, said Horsley had claimed she was the one who had been harassed.

The trial continues.