Romsey'S Liberal Democrats have come under fire from a resident after they used a photograph of her on the front of a political leaflet.

The picture shows Joan Crosier with Romsey's Liberal Democrat MP and a policewoman. It was taken as she entered the town's Crosfield Hall on February 26 for a Reminiscences of Romsey afternoon, organised by the Rotary Club.

But it is used under the heading of "Law and Order" and Mrs Crosier insists that it was taken without her knowledge at an event which had nothing to do with law and order.

"You can imagine how annoyed I am that such a photo, taken without my knowledge, should be sent throughout the constituency, supposedly discussing law and order, especially as I do not vote for the Liberal Party," she wrote in a letter to The Romsey Advertiser.

Mrs Crosier said later: "This is the first time in 74 years that I have ever written to the Press, so you can guess how hopping mad I am.

"What has made me even madder is that it's a lousy photograph. It makes me look like someone who was really angry.

"I've been stopped in the street by people who have had the leaflet sent to them and people have said: 'You were in a foul temper having a go at the policewoman'. But I was just having a joke with her."

After pointing out that it was a tranquil event organised by the Rotary Club and attended by quite a few elderly people, she explained: "I just said I could see why the police were there because we were such a riotous and dangerous lot and you could see people in the picture who were laughing."

Mrs Crosier has written to the organisers of the event and to Mrs Gidley asking for an explanation as to how the photograph came to be used, out of context, for political purposes.

Mrs Gidley said she had written to Mrs Crosier apologising for any misunderstanding, which may have been caused by the picture.

But she explained: "I was handed the photographs and was told to use them as I wished. The intention with this one was simply to draw attention to a particular issue.

"It is not our style to go down the road of using party activists for photographs and just posing them up.

"In her letter, Mrs Crosier says her neighbours looked at it and said she comes across as an angry old bat, but I don't agree."

And a spokesman at the Lib Dems' Romsey constituency offices said: "You can see they are just having a laugh. We didn't make any political claims about Mrs Crosier, whatever."

The words above and below the picture point out that Mrs Gidley's casework files "continue to grow with serious issues of anti-social behaviour reported from Bassett, North Baddesley and Romsey in recent weeks."

It adds: "Sandra meets regularly with the police and other agencies to keep abreast of their activities to combat this menace."