A married Policeman who sent a woman menacing text messages after a one-night stand has escaped a conviction.

Robert Webster refused to accept that the woman who was also married did not want to continue the affair.

When she rebuffed his advances, he launched a campaign of harassment in which he accused her of giving him a sexual disease and threatened to post obscene pictures of her on the Internet.

The 48-year-old also told the victim he would report her to the Police and warned: "I will show you not to start something you can't finish."

Webster, a Jamaican-born detective constable, served with Bermuda Police Service for ten years but has now lost his job.

The Devonshire resident pleaded guilty at Magistrates' Court yesterday to two charges of sending offensive and menacing messages via telephone.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner opted to hand him a conditional discharge, which means he has no conviction against his name.

Summarising the case against Webster, prosecutor Cindy Clarke explained the victim was a guest worker from Jamaica too. She met Webster on her second day on the Island, and they exchanged numbers.

The pair kept in touch via text message and telephone for several months, and had what Ms Clarke described as a "single consensual sexual encounter" in March this year.

"The defendant proposed an arrangement where they could continue to be intimately involved. The complainant told the defendant that she did not want to continue the relationship, as both she and the defendant were married to other people," explained the prosecutor.

"The defendant continued to pursue the complainant, making contact via text message and telephone calls. He accused her of giving him a sexually transmitted disease and indicated that in his capacity as a Police officer he would contact Interpol to access her husband's medical records. Although the complainant insisted that she did not have a disease, the defendant persisted in making contact."

In April this year, Webster contacted the victim to tell her he was on his way to Hamilton Police Station to file a complaint against her for allegedly giving him a sexual disease unless she had sex with him again to "prove" she didn't have one.

Ms Clarke told the court: "The complainant was upset and embarrassed by the prospect of the defendant going to the Police and her place of employment. When she received the text message from the defendant saying, 'your apartment now or I'm going to Hamilton Police Station to make this report, and I'm a victim', she felt threatened and offended. It caused her great anxiety, and she was scared that the defendant would make good on his threat."

Webster continued to text and call the woman, and threatened to call her husband and family to tell them what happened. Ms Clarke said the victim later found out that he had in fact contacted her mother and husband.

"The defendant continued to harass the complainant, intimating that he had obscene photographs of her and that he would disseminate them over the Internet," explained Ms Clarke.

He went on to send further texts, some of which read: "Things could be different, but I will show you not to start something you can't finish" and "leave God out of your nastiness. You are sick, now I rebuke you. (As) a matter of fact, go on your knees and cry to God for mercy. Don't repent to me."

Ms Clarke told the court: "The complainant felt threatened by this and offended. It caused her great anxiety, and she was scared that because the defendant was a Police officer, he could cause her, at worst physical harm, or at best professional embarrassment."

She complained to the Police, who arrested Webster. He was interviewed, and admitted sending the texts. Ms Clarke urged Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner to send him to prison, but he meted out a conditional discharge after also hearing from defence lawyer Victoria Pearman.

Ms Pearman said Webster has lost his job, and added: "My client also had the daunting challenge of explaining these incidents to his wife. She is now in court to support him."

According to Ms Clarke, Webster was dismissed from his job soon after the complaint came to light.

Police spokesman Robin Simmons said he served within the Criminal Investigation Unit.

"Mr. Webster's employment with the Bermuda Police Service ended around June 30 by way of end of contract. He served with the BPS for ten years," he added.