A BESOTTED policeman who tried to win back his ex-girlfriend's affections by sticking love hearts to her front door has walked free from court.

A judge told PC Andrew Wallace his behaviour towards multiple sclerosis sufferer Lynn Detheridge was directly responsbile for her illness getting much worse - she is now largely wheelchair bound.

Wallace, aged 43, of St Peter's, Worcester, was given a 12-month community order and 100 hours community service.

Last month, the father of two, an officer with West Mercia police, was found guilty of harassing Ms Detheridge, 40, between August 1 and December 6 last year after she broke off their three-year affair.

Gloucester Magistrates Court was told he was so desperate to win her back that he even stuck love heart sweets, a plastic rose, and notes to her door, begging her for a sign that she would give him another chance.

After his arrest for harassment he allegedly approached her at a hospital appointment and asked her to drop charges - in breach of his bail conditions forbidding him from talking to her.

After that incident she suffered a fit, the court heard. However the court did not accept Ms Detheridge's account of all the charges and he was cleared of throwing her into a car. Wallace, who has two children from a previous marriage, had denied all the charges and claimed he and Ms Detheridge had enjoyed an open relationship and that he was "scared to death" of her at times.

Ms Detheridge was too sick to give live evidence in the case, but the court heard video evidence of her ill-treatment.

At sentencing yesterday, Judith Kenny, defending, said: "It is 10 months since the incident and there has been no contact with Ms Detheridge at all.

"You can only drive so many nails into this man's coffin. A restraining order in not necessary.

"He loved a woman, but the feelings were not equal on both sides."

She said that Wallace could still pay the "ultimate price".

"He is at risk of losing his job with West Mercia Constabulary," she said. "There is a tribunal in December. He has been a police officer for 17 years and special for three."

Deputy district judge David Purcell stopped short of imposing a lifetime restraining order on Wallace, who must also pay £750 prosecution costs.

Judge Purcell told him breakdowns in relationships were always emotional, but that Wallace had overstepped the mark. "You sent a large number of texts and calls and in particular you visited her at the doctor's surgery when you were bailed on the condition that you did not contact her," he said.

"As a policeman you should have known the importance of complying with bail conditions. You have to take responsibility for the effect that your behaviour has had on her multiple sclerosis. You actions were such that she needed the support of a women's refuge."