GEORGE MICHAEL - MICHAEL'S STALKER WALKS FREE FROM COURT

LATEST: A woman accused of stalking GEORGE MICHAEL has avoided a jail sentence, after the singer pleaded for her freedom in a London court.

LUCY NOWAK was given a two-year conditional discharge and a restraining order to stay away from Michael and his boyfriend KENNY GOSS at Highbury Corner Magistrate's Court.

Last week (beg14FEB05), a written statement from the veteran singer was read out to the hearing requesting Nowak receive psychiatric care instead of imprisonment.

Nowak, 29, broke into Michael's home in London's upmarket Hampstead district last October (04), before forcibly entering his nearby office two days later and rural cottage in Goring-On-Thames, Oxfordshire the following month (NOV04).

She also obtained his personal email address and bombarded him with deranged messages.

A source comments, "While George and his boyfriend (Goss) were worried about what she was capable of, they were also concerned that she was ill and needed help."