A RETIRED police officer has returned to her moorland home for good after finally winning protection from a sex pest

Mandy Dunford is once more enjoying her picture-postcard Bilsdale smallholding after a successful legal move to prevent the man who made her life a misery from returning to live next door.

The 55-year-old, of Chopgate, had fought a long and unsuccessful battle to try and ensure the neighbour who was convicted of sexually harassing her could not return to his home within yards of her front door.

But following the intervention of Richmond’s Tory MP Rishi Sunak, a court ruled in June that the man, Ken Ward, should be excluded from the area and must wear an electronic tag for ten years so police can monitor his movements.

Ward was jailed for five years for sex and firearms offences in 2011 but a Sexual Offences Prevention Order originally allowed him to return to his home next door to Ms Dunford’s isolated farmhouse.

She moved out in anticipation of Ward’s release from prison but following the landmark court ruling, has now moved back - and Mr Sunak called on her to see how she was settling in.

Ms Dunford said: “I can’t put into words how grateful I am to Mr Sunak. This would not have happened without his help. I had tried to get the order changed but got nowhere and it was his intervention that made all the difference.”

Mr Sunak said: “I am absolutely delighted to see Mandy back home and happy, surrounded by her animals and enjoying her life again.

“When she came to see me in my surgery over a year ago, I knew this was a glaring injustice which had to be put right.”

Mr Sunak secured a meeting with Attorney General Jeremy Wright after Ms Dunford first contacted him and that led to police agreeing to take the matter back to court to have the original order amended.

And in June, at Teesside Crown Court, Judge Peter Armstrong ruled that, as Ms Dunford was the victim, her human rights in being able to enjoy her own home took precedence over offender Ward’s right to return to his home after serving his sentence.

The judge described Ward’s disgusting acts as a relentless campaign of intimidation against Ms Dunford which was designed to drive his neighbour out of her home.

Ms Dunford bought the smallholding 18 years ago. She took early retirement on health grounds from the mounted section of Cleveland Police following a fall and looked forward to looking after her horses in her moorland home.

Initially, Ken Ward’s behaviour was normal but he grew increasingly aggressive and offensive culminating in his conviction in 2011.