Drifter is guilty of stalking Madonna

TIM CORNWELL

Los Angeles

A drifter who threatened to slit Madonna's throat "from ear to ear", then scaled the wall of her Hollywood mansion and took a dip in her pool before being shot twice by her bodyguard, was found guilty yesterday of stalking and threatening her.

Robert Dewey Hoskins, 38, was convicted after a three day trial on five counts of stalking and threatening the pop star and assaulting a bodyguard. He faces a possible 10 years in jail.

Testifying under her full name of Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, the singer told the court she was terrified of Hoskins and had sufferednightmares.

Hoskins's attorney described him as "a homeless person" who was no threat. But in a scrawled note he wrote he loved Madonna and wanted to make her his wife, while he also yelled threats outside her gate.

Hoskins twice came to Madonna's Hollywood Hills estate before the day last May when he jumped over the wall, taking a swim before turning violent and lunging at one of the star's bodyguards. Hoskins's attorney claimed Madonna had "totally exaggerated" her fear and acted like a "prima donna" in court. He said his client's worst crime was trespassing.