A man convicted of stalking his former girlfriend and accused this week of harassing her once again is expected to make a formal complaint to Police alleging that she is stalking him.

Carlos Astwood said yesterday that he is consulting his lawyer to make a complaint against Sandra Ruth.

He said by trying to contact him at a guest house after he left prison and by leaving messages on his pager, she has been stalking him.

The Royal Gazette revealed yesterday that Ms Ruth has claimed her former boyfriend Astwood has been leaving messages on her voicemail at home and at work and has verbally abused her and her new boyfriend.

Astwood, a former Mr. Bermuda who was jailed for two years last year for trying to poison food, milk and orange juice at Ms Ruth's home in St.

George's, vigorously denies the allegations. He was the first person jailed under the Island's stalking laws.

He told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "I am going to make a formal Police complaint through my lawyer as soon as possible to let her know I am not playing.

"I want her to leave me alone and stop telling lies about things that are not happening.'' Astwood, 34, who was released from prison earlier this year, has obtained a job at the ACE construction site in Hamilton directly opposite Ms Ruth's office. He said he was doing it for the money and said she would have to deal with it.

When told about Astwood's intention to complain to Police, Ms Ruth said: "That's fine. He can do whatever he needs to do. I don't bother you, you don't bother me, as long as he just leaves me alone.'' Meanwhile, Ms Ruth said Police told her yesterday that she had been given wrong information earlier this year when she complained that Astwood had begun to stalk her again.

She said she was originally told that officers could not do anything until she got a restraining order through the courts, which was proving to be costly and difficult to do because of the time taken to compile a dossier on Astwood's alleged behaviour.

She said yesterday: "I have received a great deal of support today since the story was published. The Police officers I spoke to today said the original officers were poorly informed.

"They could go ahead and start processing a restraining order without me having to do it. Some Police officers are going to come to my home tomorrow (Saturday) to take a statement and start work in trying to get a restraining order in place.'' Carlos Astwood