HE’S the award-winning community crime-fighter who lost his job after assaulting a teenager in a Hampshire village.

Now Norman Bareham claims he has been told not to walk his dog past the home of a police officer who lives near his home.

Mr Bareham, 69, of Dibden Purlieu, was an Accredited Community Safety Officer (ACSO) employed by Hythe and Dibden Parish Council.

He received massive support from the public after a campaign was launched to keep his job, but despite being given an absolute discharge by Southampton magistrates, who heard that the teenager did not want the case to go ahead, he was stripped of his accreditation by Hampshire police shortly after the hearing.

Now the long-running controversy has taken a bizarre new twist.

Mr Bareham said he launched an attempt to discover the reason why the case was pursued and was advised by his solicitor to avoid any contact with Hythe-based police officers.

He added: “The other evening I answered a knock at the front door and was startled to see two Totton officers standing on the doorstep.

“They explained that a PC and his wife had complained that I was ‘acting strangely’ by not responding to them when he tried to speak to me.

“I explained the background to the case, including the legal advice I’d been given.

“The officers conceded that I can walk where I chose in a public place but suggested I might like to change my route. They eventually left, leaving us sitting there in stunned silence.

“To make matters worse, I later received a phone call from one of the officers.

“She explained that the officer and his wife had CCTV images of me walking past their house and I might like to reconsider my route when walking my dog in future.”

Mr Bareham said he intended to comply but claimed he was the victim of harassment.

When approached by the Daily Echo, police re-issued a statement they put out last September, when officers confirmed that Mr Bareham’s accreditation had been removed.

Police have not commented on claims that Mr Bareham has been told not to walk past the policeman’s home.

The parish clerk, Stephanie Bennett, said: “Norman’s vetting was removed by the police and the council was therefore unable to continue to employ him as an ACSO.

“Norman has been provided with support throughout this process.

“However, we have been dealing with a case that involved one of our employees pleading guilty in court to assault, by beating, of a child.”