A LESBIAN policewoman allegedly waged a year-long campaign of harassment against her former lover and colleague.
Diane Reeves-Emery, 38, allegedly targeted her ex-partner, Charlotte Eccles, 23, with scores of abusive texts – and threatening to stab her.
The Derbyshire police officers are on trial for allegedly cheating an insurance firm after crashing their Renault Clio during a lovers' tiff.
But the scam only emerged two years later when the couple split and Reeves-Emery was accused of carrying out the hate campaign.
Stafford Crown Court heard Eccles was being interviewed by police about the harassment allegations when she revealed the alleged insurance fraud.
Later, interviewed under caution, she told how she began her relationship with Reeves-Emery while working as a special constable in Swadlincote.
Eccles said they met on New Year's Eve 2005. Within three months Eccles had split up with her boyfriend and the two women were living together.
Eccles claimed that after only a few weeks she realised Reeves-Emery had "psychological problems" and was taking anti-depressants and drinking "excessive" alcohol.
Eccles told police: "She would tell me to leave and try to push me out of the door. When we were in bed together she would push me out.
"I loved her to pieces. But she would change from somebody I fell in love with to somebody who was completely different and aggressive.
"It was my first gay relationship, it was new, and I had left everything behind."
Steven Redmond, prosecuting, said the crash happened on April 25, 2006, when the pair went for a drive to discuss their relationship problems.
The smash caused £6,000 damage to their Renault Clio.
It was Reeves-Emery, of Alexandra Road, Burton, who called the insurance company to report the accident and take responsibility for the crash.
The firm sent out a claim form and the car was repaired, but at the lower excess rate of £250 for which she qualified.
But the prosecution claims the pair lied to pay only the reduced excess, and that Eccles was in fact at the wheel of the car at the time of the crash.
Months after the incident the couple married in a civil ceremony, but Eccles said she felt threatened by the "control" her lover exercised over her.
Reeves-Emery's campaign of harassment allegedly began following their split and intensified after Eccles started a new relationship.
Eccles, of Blueberry Way, Woodville, told police: "I put CCTV signs up. My letterbox was sealed, I was scared she might try to set my house on fire."
Asked about the alleged fraud, Eccles told police she was "under the influence" of Reeves-Emery and felt she had to go along with it.
She added that her ex-partner said their careers would be destroyed if the scam emerged.
"I knew what she was like when she didn't get her own way. I was scared to tell somebody because she was violent towards me," she told police.
When Reeves-Emery was later interviewed about the claims she read out a prepared statement, accusing her ex-lover of "making mischief".
The pair both deny a charge of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.
Reeves-Emery faces another deception charge after allegedly giving false information to a second insurance firm within days of the smash.
The case continues.
