A MOTHER-of-seven who discovered her husband was having an affair began a six-month course of harassment, a court heard yesterday.

Harrogate magistrates were told how advanced teaching assistant and senior youth worker Margaret Anne Ambery-Smith vented her fury at partner John Ambery-Smith's long-term infidelity.

The court heard she used her two mobile phones to call him and send angry test messages.

Ambery-Smith, 47, pleaded guilty to harassment. Caroline May, prosecuting, said she had turned more and more abusive in her conduct towards her husband, a nurse, which had begun on August 1 and ended when she was charged on January 29.

Mrs May said Ambery-Smith had stayed in the matrimonial home, at West Lodge, Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, Thirsk, when they separated.

She would often send ten or more text messages a day, and Mr Ambery-Smith had begun to feel increasingly threatened.

When police went to see Ambery-Smith, now of Plane Tree Cottage, Kirklington, near Bedale, she said she was having difficulty coping with separation from her husband.

Geoffrey Rogers, mitigating, said although the harassment began soon after the couple separated, it quickly became apparent that Mr Ambery-Smith's affair was not a new one.

Ambery-Smith had been unable to work since October because of stress, anxiety and depression, which had led to a skin disorder, he said.

But now she accepted the marriage breakdown was permanent and she ''just wants to put all this behind her.''

Ambery-Smith was conditionally discharged for a year with £50 costs.