A PRISONER wrote letters from jail to the former partner she assaulted, breaching a restraining order, a court heard yesterday.

In doing so, Natasha Brown, of Tindale Avenue, Framwellgate Moor, breached the indefinite restraining order placed on her when she was convicted and jailed for nine months for assaulting her former partner.

She appeared before Newton Aycliffe Magistrates to plead guilty to two breaches of a restraining order, one from February this year and another in May, by writing the letters from prison.

While the letters did not contain any threats, the female victim felt she was being harassed.

This left her worrying what Brown would do once she was released.

However, in mitigation, magistrates were told that the letters were in fact letters of apology and that Brown thought her restraining order only applied upon her release from prison.

Magistrates gave her a 12-month conditional discharge, and ordered to pay her a £20 victim surcharge.

Brown said: "I made a mistake and I'm sorry and it won't happen again."