A man sacked by a firm of solicitors has been cleared of trying to blackmail his former employers out of £5,000.

Derek Fleming was alleged to have rung his ex-boss Rhona Lavender and warned that unless he was paid five months' salary he would inform the police there was 'a fiddle going on', Worcester Crown Court heard.

Mr Fleming had already taken the firm, Harfield Pickering, of Redditch, to an industrial tribunal. But he was only awarded £150.

It was claimed by prosecutor David Iles that he believed himself 'short-changed' and was trying to get cash by means of a threat in return for his silence.

He also wanted Miss Lavender, a qualified solicitor, to produce a false testimonial which stated that he had not been sacked, he added.

Mr Fleming, aged 57, of Kimberley Close, Church Hill, Redditch, was acquitted of blackmailing Miss Lavender after a three-day trial.

The defendant lost his job as a debt recoverer with the solicitors in November 2000.

A year later, when he had a new job at a bank, he rang Miss Lavender's mobile phone as she shopped for shoes in Cardiff.

Arrested by police, Mr Fleming said his motive for the phone call had been to tip off Miss Lavender about the firm but had been misunderstood.

He branded one employee 'a dodgy bar steward', the jury heard, and had not wanted Miss Lavender to put her hard-earned money into the firm.

He denied wanting back-salary or discussing his small out-of-court settlement.