140 hours community service

Justin Lee Collins has been sentenced to 140 hours of community service after a jury found him guilty of harassing his former girlfriend Anna Larke.

The decision came after three days of deliberations, after judge said he would accept a 10-2 majority verdict.

Ms Larke had claimed he had attacked her in a hotel room and kept a ‘dossier’ of her past sexual encounters. He is also said to have made death threats against her in a humiliating nine-month campaign of verbal and physical abuse.

He also forced her to sleep facing him, come off social networking websites and throw away DVDs that featured actors she found attractive, the court had heard.

The court was told he even banned her from looking at other men, saying: ‘When you’re with me you look at the fucking ground, you look at a tree ... you don’t look at any other fucking human being.’

The former Friday Night Project presenter told St Albans Crown Court he only ever slapped Ms Larke to calm her down when she was self-harming.

Collins, 38, of Kew, south-west London, denies causing fear of violence – while his lawyers branded Ms Larke, a former alcoholic, a compulsive liar. He said the seven-month relationship was ‘absolute hell’.

However, his reputation is now in tatters after the court decided against him.

Published: 9 Oct 2012