A besotted farmer stalked a former policewoman for three months, a court heard yesterday.

Mr Graham Greenhill bombarded Mrs Susan Thomson with telephone calls and drove past her house several times a day, the court was told.

She said that on one occasion he chased her at high speed before throwing a box of her favourite sweets into her car.

Mrs Thomson said Mr Greenhill had become obsessed with her and kept pleading for her to return to his Perthshire farm.

She said that he told her his life was not worth living without her and he would kill himself if she did not come back.

Mrs Thomson, 39, from Kirkinch, Perthshire, told Perth Sheriff Court: ''I was very frightened because he was just so mad.

''When my husband went up to tell him to keep away from me he said to my husband he had an affair with me.''

The mother of two said she had never had an affair with Mr Greenhill, but had been friendly with him.

However, she said she had told him to keep away after he began to call her mobile phone more than 10 times a day.

She said that wherever she went, Mr Greenhill would appear as if from nowhere, on a daily basis.

The 42-year-old farmer from neighbouring Alyth, Perthshire, would follow her in his car, she said.

Several times he forced her to stop her own vehicle, she said, and would get out to ''rant and rave''.

Mrs Thomson, who was in the police for 10 years, told the court she had worked for Mr Greenhill for a period.

''There was an incident when I was out riding my horse and I saw his Land Rover coming towards me.

''He stopped in the middle of the road, alighted from the vehicle and grabbed hold of my horse.

''He got hold of the reins and started his normal carry-on that he couldn't live without me and had tried to commit suicide that night.

''He said he threw a rope over the bannister to hang himself, but someone came to the door and stopped him. He was crying and apologising for all the things he had said. He just seemed to have lost it.''

Mrs Thomson said she watched him drive by her home ''every 10 minutes with the same bail of straw''.

Married Mr Greenhill told her he would sell the farm to help her win custody of her children, the court was told.

She said she put an alarm system with a panic button into her house because she was so concerned.

One time he had chased her for several miles in the car as she went home and had finally forced her to stop, she said.

''He said he had something for me and gave me a package. I gave him it back and he threw it into the vehicle, so I flung it into a field.''

She said that when he left the scene she went to the field to recover the package as evidence.

''It was a half-box of sports mixtures and a card. There were always sweets in the house and he knew I liked sports mixtures.''

Mrs Thomson read out the card in court, in which Greenhill said: ''I feel sorry about what's happened. I never would have done anything to hurt you. You have left myself a very unhappy man.

''I hope this is not goodbye, because I will miss you old blue eyes. This is from the creep who has just wormed your sheep.''

It went on to ask Mrs Thomson to destroy the card and not show it to her husband, she said.

Mrs Thomson agreed with defence solicitor Brian Fitzpatrick that Mr Greenhill had acted like ''a lovesick puppy''.

However, she repeatedly denied that she had an affair with the farmer for many months.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: ''In September 1996 and February 1997 did you have sex with Graham Greenhill using condoms which burst, leading you to obtain the morning after pill from your doctor.''

Mrs Thomson said no, but then refused to allow the doctor to be called as a witness for the defence.

Mr Greenhill's solicitor said that if she continually denied taking the morning after pill, he was instructed to inform the police about her answer.

Mr Greenhill denies that between August and November last year he committed breaches of the peace by persistently following her, threatening her and attempting to seize her.

The trial continues.