A MAN who carried out a terrifying campaign of harassment against his estranged wife has been jailed for two years.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Peter Varey

l Made threatening and abusive phone calls;

l Told his wife she would be shot and that a relative would burn down her house;

l Stalked her near her home;

l Spiked a coffee jar belonging to her with amphetamine and cannabis;

l And sprayed graffiti "tags" on roads and paths wrongly saying Mrs Varey's father was a police "grass".

Johnny Walker, prosecuting, said Varey, 32, married his fiancee, Elizabeth, in December 1995 and they had two children, but said the relationship was volatile from the outset.

He said that after they broke up in June 2005, the defendant began making unpleasant phone calls, threatening her and her family.

Mrs Varey, 33, then returned to live in the matrimonial home in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, but moved out again in September, which was when the abusive calls started again. Mr Walker said: "She was told she would be shot and that a relative would visit and burn her house down."

He said that from November 2005 to January last year, Mrs Varey believed she was being continuously stalked and watched, and was also sent cards and letters containing disturbing language.

Police arrested Varey and seized a computer hard drive that contained a diary he had written.

In it, he described how he spiked the coffee jar, and also considered contaminating it with aspirin because Mrs Varey was allergic to the painkiller and could suffer a reaction.

Mr Walker said the graffiti "tags" were found on routes used by the complainant and her family in areas including Darlington, Yarm, Stokesley and Stockton.

Varey, of Vikings Court, Brompton, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to harassment between September 12, 2005 and March 2, last year, administering a noxious substance, burglary and four counts of criminal damage.

Stephen Duffield, in mitigation, said all the offences arose from problems concerning contact with his children. He said Varey, who was now divorcing his wife, had been "distraught, frustrated, suicidal and angry".

Jailing him, Judge Michael Taylor said: "This was thoroughly unpleasant, designed to terrify and it was carefully orchestrated and repetitive."

The judge, who placed a restraining order on Varey preventing him from harassing the complainant, said: "It is of particularly disturbing note to me that while you have pleaded guilty, you have expressed no remorse for what you have done.