A middle-aged woman convicted of waging a campaign of harrassment against her two landlords, a neighbour and her postman was accused of trying to deliberately delay her sentencing.

Janet D'Sa was told she was "frustrating the sentencing process" because she failed to attend a psychiatric assessment which would determine the severity of her sentence.

At Croydon Magistrates Court yesterday (Wednesday) the 49-year-old, of Tavistock Road, arrived for her sentencing without legal representation and seeking an adjournment - claiming she had not received a letter notifying her of the appointment.

She blamed this on the fact that her mail was being redirected to another postal address - an address which the courts were unaware of - and that she believed the psychiatrist's letter had been sent to the wrong address.

However Cara Pickering, prosecuting, told magistrates: "I am concerned that she is frustrating the sentencing process by changing addresses."

Magistrates told D'Sa her reasons for not attending the appointment were unacceptable and warned her she would be remanded in custody if she was incapable of attending the assessment.

After advising her to seek legal represntation, D'Sa returned to the court later that afternoon with her solicitor, who argued the missed appointment was due to an administration error - not a desire to delay sentencing.

Lisa Freeman, defending, said D'Sa wished to put the matter behind her. She also claimed D'Sa's conviction had caused her so much stress she was calling the Samaritans counselling helpline on a twice-weekly basis.

Magistrates decided to grant D'Sa one final chance to attend a psychiatric assessment of her own accord and adjourned the sentencing until June 19.

D'Sa was found guilty of three counts of harrassment on April 2 against her landlords Derek and Annette Jenkins, her postman Gary Spackman and company director James Biley, who lives in the same building as her.

D'Sa waged a campaign of harassment through a series of abusive letters which made malicious and untrue allegations, sent to the home of her landlords as well as the work address of Mr Biley. Copies of these letters were sent to Croydon Council, the Home Office and Croydon Police.

She claimed Mr Jenkins was the murderer of Sally Anne Bowman and that he hit his wife. She also labelled Mr Biley a racist and claimed he should be sectioned before he "killed someone".

She also falsely accused Gary Spackman of attacking her after he caught her rifling through his postbag. D'Sa took all four victims to the High Court but the cases were thrown out when it was discovered her allegations were unsubstantiated.

She was due to be sentenced on April 25 but it was adjourned until May 23 to allow psychiatric reports to be prepared. She will now be sentenced on June 19.