TORONTO - Police have decided not to charge New York-based political pundit Rachel Marsden with stalking a Canadian counterterrorism officer with whom she had an affair.
Yesterday's decision followed a two-month investigation by the South Simcoe Police Service into Ms. Marsden's conduct since her breakup with Constable Tony Backhurst.
"We're not going to proceed with laying criminal charges for harassment," said Constable Matt Nobel, who conducted the investigation. "That's about it in a nutshell."
Ms. Marsden, a former Republican Babe of the Week who has appeared on Fox News and CNN, has a history of criminal harassment, having pleaded guilty to stalking a Vancouver radio host in 2004. Her swim coach at Simon Fraser University also accused her of stalking him in the 1990s, but the allegation was never proven.
"I hope this puts an end to crazies falsely crying harassment by me every time they get themselves into hot water. It's obviously not the first time it's happened, but hopefully it will be the last," she said yesterday. "I mean, how many men have to say that I harassed them before it officially becomes a joke?"
Const. Backhurst could not be reached yesterday. The Ontario Provincial Police constable, who ran unsuccessfully for the federal Conservative party in 2004, is currently on leave and facing an internal investigation for allegedly leaking counterterrorism documents to Ms. Marsden.
After the National Post reported last month that Ms. Marsden was under investigation for stalking, she posted several e-mail messages on her Internet site that she claims Const. Backhurst sent to her between 2005 and 2007.
They include racist jokes and sexually explicit notes to Ms. Marsden. She said she posted them to show that, far from stalking the officer, he was pursuing her, but Const. Backhurst's lawyer, Andrew McKay, called her actions "very concerning."
"Obviously, we're extremely concerned about her conduct and it aggravates the situation," he said. "Tony has got to look at all his legal options right now to see what course of action we have to take and how we stop her outrageous behaviour."
Const. Backhurst, a member of the Provincial Anti-Terrorism Section, and Ms. Marsden met two years ago when she was a Toronto Sun columnist. But in September, Ms. Marsden posted Const. Backhurst's photo on the Internet, identified him as an OPP counterterrorism officer and claimed he had given her "top secret" police files.
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