NICOLE KIDMAN WANTS PROTECTION FROM A STALKER PAPARAZZI

Nicole Kidman

A DISTRAUGHT Nicole Kidman has called on police for protection, claiming her holiday in NSW with husband Keith Urban was ruined by harassment.The star, who has been reunited with country music idol Urban, 39, after he began treatment for alcoholism, broke down in a roadside rage after requesting a police escort to help reach her Rosedale holiday home. The outburst came when her ongoing feud with freelance photographer Jamie Fawcett boiled over again on New Year's Eve after she said the celebrity snapper had been a constant presence during her break. It was the first sign that Kidman, also 39, is not coping well with the public scrutiny of her marriage and Urban's fall off the wagon. Kidman is believed to have sent staff to make a complaint at Batemans Bay police station at noon on Sunday, saying the photographer had been a constant presence during her time away with Urban and her parents, Antony and Janelle Kidman.

Keith Urban with Nicole Kidman

The couple alleged Fawcett had a history of harassing Kidman and endangered her and others while following her. Fawcett's lawyers will appear at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on January 11 over allegations he was linked to bugging her Darling Point home this time last year. Checks on the police computer showed an AVO Kidman initiated over stalking claims was revoked in February last year. Fawcett told The Daily Telegraph an unmarked highway patrol car was made available to Kidman's convoy, which included a security vehicle carrying her minders and a black Audi driven by Urban. The cars then set off for the couple's Rosedale compound. But just metres down the road, Fawcett claims the group pulled up, with the photographer taking the opportunity to begin snapping the stars. Fawcett claims Kidman rolled down her window and angrily said: "fuck off, Jamie." A Channel 10 news crew was also following and is believed to have filmed the altercation. Kidman is upset and agitated in Fawcett's photos, with Urban offering a calming hand. "It was more her snapping than him. He appeared, in my view, to pull her back into the car," Fawcett said. "I was four or five metres from their car and entitled to be there. This situation was not my making. They pulled over." Batemans Bay police Inspector Gary Megay said the couple had been offered protection. "Those roads around Rosedale are very narrow and with paparazzi around, we were just making sure everyone was safe," he said. Mr Megay said regular patrols found "no issues" with regard to harassment allegations. The incident is believed to have led to an early end to the holiday trip, with the couple driving back to Sydney on Sunday and spending New Year's at her sister's Greenwich home. They flew out for Los Angeles on Kidman's private jet early yesterday.

Paparazzi Jamie Fawcett