A CWMBRAN man aged 40 was jailed and banned from approaching a woman pen pal after a court heard how he subjected her to a campaign of harassment.

Andrew William Hatton, of Llewyn Celyn, Two Locks, Cwmbran, had struck up a friendship with Julia Worsdell, who lives in the West of England, and the two wrote regularly as friends, Newport magistrates heard yesterday.

But the tone of the letters changed when Hatton started sending Mrs Worsdell obscene letters, some of which were sexually explicit, said Ian Griffiths, prosecuting. Mr Griffiths told magistrates that as well as sending letters to Mrs Worsdell herself, he also wrote to her doctor, the health authority and her bank, making a series of allegations including claims she had a criminal record.

"The couple started writing in 1998 and as the correspondence changed in tone, Mrs Worsdell decided enough was enough. Hatton appeared in court in 1999 on a similar charge when he was given a conditional discharge, but within days the letters started again.

"Some were obscene, while others were in the nuisance category," said Mr Griffiths. Hatton pleaded guilty to harassment of Mrs Wors-dell between Novem-ber 29, 1999, and May 1 this year, and to breach of a conditional discharge.

His solicitor, Robin Jones, said Hatton suffered from "bizarre obsessive behaviour". "He has had a lot of illness and many of the calls were made in the early hours of the morning. He says he has no intention of acting like this again, but if he does he will go to prison."

The magistrates told Hatton they had no alternative but to jail him because of the nature and seriousness of the charges.

He was sent to prison for two months and magistrates also imposed a restraining order against him for two years for harassing Mrs Worsdell.