NSW police have dropped all charges against friendlyjordies producer Kristo Langker after accusing him of stalking former deputy premier John Barilaro.
Langker, 22, was arrested in June last year after an investigation by the NSW Police Fixated Persons Investigation Unit into alleged stalking.
He was charged with four counts of stalking or intimidating with intent to cause fear or physical harm and a hearing was set down for May this year.
But on Thursday in the Downing Centre Local Court magistrate Susan McIntyre ordered NSW police to pay costs of $12,000 to Langker's lawyer Mark Davis.
The criminal case against the YouTube channel producer formed part of a larger spat between his boss Jordan Shanks and Mr Barilaro, who sued him in the Federal Court for defamation.
In November the former MP received an apology but no damages when the lawsuit was settled over two videos titled bruz and Secret Dictatorship, published to Shanks's YouTube channel in 2020.
Officers had alleged Langker intimidated or stalked the then-deputy premier in 2021 on two occasions, at Macquarie University on April 19 and in Sydney on June 4.
Outside court last year Langker's lawyer said arresting his client in the first place was "outrageous" and police could have dealt with the matter by warning or a meeting at the police station.
"To invade in, to throw him on the floor, to put him in handcuffs and then to barge into his house - his mother is traumatised, as his girlfriend and for that matter his poor dog," Mr Davis told reporters.
"Anything can go wrong when you send in what is effectively a counter-terror unit for a very minor charge. Things can go seriously wrong."
Asked why he didn't like Mr Barilaro, Langker said it wasn't about liking Mr Barilaro.
"It's about doing journalism," he told reporters.
