Poster campaign against Sir Nigel

Sir Nigel, 72, is still best known for Yes, Minister

Actor Sir Nigel Hawthorne has been the target of a poisonous poster campaign in his Hertfordshire village.

Police said on Wednesday that home-made posters, branding the 72-year old actor a "liar" and warning people to keep away from him, had been removed from trees and lamp-posts in lanes near his country home.

The actor received a knighthood in 1999

Police say they have issued a formal warning to a former employee of Sir Nigel, gardener Roy Breaker-Rolfe.

The gardener had been due to go to an industrial tribunal in a dispute over his job until the matter was settled out of court.

Mr Breaker-Rolfe told the Daily Mail newspaper that he was not responsible for the posters, which went up at the end of April.

'Protracted dispute'

A Hertfordshire police spokeswoman said: "We are aware of an ongoing civil dispute between Mr Hawthorne and a former employee.

"It is a protracted dispute, during which the former employee has been given a formal warning under the Harassment Act following the distribution of defamatory leaflets.

"Hertfordshire Constabulary are monitoring the situation closely."

One of the posters said: "Keep Away From Nigel Hawthorne, The Actor. He Is Two Faced And A Liar."

David Beatty, a neighbour in Sir Nigel's village, Cold Christmas, near Ware, Hertfordshire, said: "The posters were on telegraph posts and on the gateposts of his drive.

"There were about a couple of dozen of them and I took the whole lot down one morning when I was walking my dog.

"They were all destroyed very quickly because we all like Nigel in the village and we don't like this sort of stuff."

Sir Nigel is best known for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby in the 1980s TV series Yes, Minister, which was recently remade in Hindi for Indian audiences.