A FORMER beauty queen told how she sat by the telephone every night for five months waiting for a former football star to call her back after he had phone sex with her.

Carolyn Pick, 36, said she was left "devastated and empty" after she was "dumped" by the retired international player.

She said: "I waited by the phone every night for him to call me, I really liked him, he was really nice.

"I felt absolutely devastated. I never got over him. I felt empty inside and I became unhappy and didn't want to get up in the morning.

"I felt I couldn't get on with my life until he apologised. He dumped me, he treated me like a chatline prostitute."

Ms Pick, an unemployed secretary, revealed her love for the former football star as she took the stand on day five of a telephone sex blackmail trial.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how her alleged campaign of harassment began after she fell for the man in 1995.

She sent a photograph of herself in a yellow bikini with her name and address, and the former star responded by sending a signed photograph.

She then claims he called her at home for telephone sex but then dumped her.

She told the court: "It was about 9.30pm on November 26, 1995, I was watching TV and the phone rang.

"The first thing he said was 'Hello Carolyn', and straight away I recognised it was his voice."

She claimed he asked her to talk to him about a sex act and said he would visit her when he was in the area.

Ms Pick claimed the call lasted about 15 minutes, and was followed by two more calls, in January and February 1996.

She told the court how she was angry when the calls stopped, and after sitting by the telephone every night for five months she became "frantic for an explanation".

In 1997, after Ms Pick called the former star at home and sent him letters and photographs, she was reported to police and cautioned for harassment.

But she continued to send tapes to the man, claiming she had a recording of their earlier telephone conversation and if he did not contact her and apologise she would expose him to the world as a love rat.

When police raided Ms Pick's home they found telephone recording equipment which she had used to make the tapes.

They also recovered a series of news clippings of other footballing stars' affairs.

Ms Pick admits harassing the star but denies blackmail, saying she just wanted him to apologise for the way he had treated her.

The trial continues