An ex-fireman is facing a year in jail after being convicted today of resisting arrest outside of Madonna’s UWS building. Robert Linhart retired from the Fire Department of New York in 1998 and apparently has been spending his time since aggravating and stalking the evergreen Queen of pop. According to the New York Post, Linhart was resisting arrest after he was spotted writing love messages to the star on giant wooden boards outside her building in Central Park.

"Madonna I need you," read one sign. "Tell me yes or no," read another. "If it's yes, my dream will come true. If it's no, I will go. XXX" According to the courts, it wasn’t the fact that the messages themselves were deemed felony-worthy, it was the fact that he tried to resist arrest when officials tried to stop him continuing. "We thought that he was a little, you know, different," said juror Dr. Harry Pong, 51, adding "But that doesn't matter - he has the right to free speech.” Fellow juror Elisa Rosario furthered "I feel that his rights were violated. I don't think he did anything wrong.”

So Linhart might well feel a little aggrieved, given that the arrest he was resisting was for something that ultimately didn’t seem to be an offence. Slightly more disturbing though is the fact that he Tweets under the account name @madonna_stalker. Hmm.