A tenant who made her elderly landlady's life a "living nightmare" has been found guilty of harassment after a two-day trial.

Janet D'Sa, of Lakehall Road, Thornton Heath, was arrested in May after sending a stream of disturbing letters to Sheila Read at her house in Worcester Road, Cheam, while she lived there as a tenant.

The court heard how 78-year-old Mrs Read received the letters containing false and malicious allegations about her and her family within weeks of D'Sa renting a flat on the ground floor of her house.

Describing D'Sa's campaign of harassment against her, Mrs Read told Sutton Magistrates' Court last Wednesday: "It has had a devastating effect on me. It's been the worst year of my life. It's a nightmare and it's still going on."

Giving evidence D'Sa claimed Mrs Read and her other tenant, who moved out within weeks of her arrival, had conducted their own campaign of harassment against her.

She told the court Mrs Read only received one of the letters sent in April because she had stolen it from her flat and that she had never intended to send it.

But the court heard how Mrs Read, who was paid rent until April, had only one set of keys to the flat which she had given to D'Sa at the start of her tenancy.

Magistrates told D'Sa her actions constituted a deliberate harassment of Mrs Read and that she would have been aware of the effect her letters would have had.

Bailing her not to have contact with Mrs Read or her daughter and not to enter Worcester Road, D'Sa was warned by magistrates she faced a restraining order but was likely to avoid prison.

D'Sa is due to be sentenced on December 8.