A Police officer is being investigated for allegedly threatening a 56-year-old widow ? just days after an assault case against him was thrown out of court.

P.c. Robert Butterfield, 36, of Tommy Fox Road, St. David?s, walked free from Magistrates? Court on Tuesday when prosecutors offered no evidence against him on charges of assault, threatening words and trespassing.

The alleged incidents were said to have taken place against Kimberlee Pitcher ? the mother of his 14-month-old daughter Rianna ? last December.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner awarded legal costs to P.c. Butterfield after finding that the charges were ?unfounded, frivolous or brought by improper motives?.

Ms Pitcher?s mother Stella Outerbridge claimed yesterday that on Wednesday the officer ? who was suspended from duty on two-thirds pay in December ? showed up outside her Texas Road, St. David?s home, and made an obscene and threatening gesture towards her.

P.c. Butterfield told that he was involved in an argument with Mrs. Outerbridge but did not behave as she described.

She alleged that the officer grabbed hold of his crotch and made a crude reference to his genitals. Police were called and interviewed Mrs. Outerbridge later that afternoon.

?I?m pressing charges,? she said, adding that she was left shaken by the incident. ?He is supposed to be upholding the law. He is a policeman. I think it?s outright disgusting. It?s an embarrassment to the Bermuda Police force.?

But P.c. Butterfield said: ?I?m telling you it never happened. I was upset, I shouted to her.?

He said the pair had argued and that he and Mrs. Outerbridge were involved in an ongoing dispute about his relationship with her daughter.

The officer said he had been due to go back to work yesterday but had now been suspended again until further notice.

Bermuda Police Service spokesman Robin Simmons confirmed that the incident had been reported and was being investigated.