A gay man branded a transgendered woman a man-witch during an “evil” nine-month hate campaign.

A court was told how Pauli Hollis-Pekkanen repeatedly targeted the council worker and another woman he accused of plotting against him.

The 48-year-old of Montague Street, Brighton, even wore t-shirts and put up posters at 19-storey Essex Place flats in Kemp Town making allegations against them.

Hollis-Pekkanen also sent abusive letters to the council officer's employer at Brighton and Hove City Council.

He called her a man-witch, referred to her as a man in letters and disrupted public meetings that both women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attended.

The council worker was so distressed by the vicious campaign she was forced to ask for a transfer to a different office to avoid all contact with him.

The court was told Hollis-Pekkanen was sent a first warning letter by the council about his behaviour in August last year.

It was served by the police but he did not believe the officer was a genuine policeman and continued his campaign against both victims.

At first he denied harassing both women but changed his plea to guilty on the first day of his trial at Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Hollis-Pekkanen was given an eight week prison sentence suspended for two years.