An art expert has launched a £50,000 legal battle against the Home Office after a prison officer tried to seduce his wife while he served a jail sentence.

Mary Duddin was repeatedly sexually harassed by the warder as she visited her husband, David, in Frankland Prison, Durham City. He had been jailed for handling stolen goods, including a priceless Rembrandt.

The officer boasted to Mrs Duddin of orgies he had participated in at his previous job and pleaded with her for a date. On one occasion he grabbed her visitor pass to find out her address and offered to visit her at her Newcastle home.

Newcastle County Court heard yesterday how Mrs Duddin had to tell her husband of her ordeal in a packed visitors' room.

Mr Duddin, 56, told the court: "She said that the prison officer had been pressurising her to go out with him and basically have sex with him."

Mrs Duddin filed a complaint with the governor at Frankland, and the married warder was brought before a disciplinary hearing.

The warder - only mentioned in court by his surname, Linskill - was found guilty of misconduct. He later committed suicide.

The prison apologised to Mr Duddin. Frankland governor Peter Leonard wrote to him: "I am sorry for the distress this matter has caused you."

Last year, Mrs Duddin was paid thousands of pounds compensation after a lengthy legal battle. And now, following his release, her husband is seeking his own claim for damages.

He is suing for misfeasance in public office, wrongful exercise of lawful authority, and negligence.

Mr Duddin, a once respected jeweller and antiques expert, was caught in an undercover police sting by a detective posing as an arts expert.

He was jailed for nine years in 1997, and was released last year.

The case continues.