A SCORNED woman took revenge when her lover ended their relationship, a court heard.

Mother-of-five Jacqueline Lacey went to the home of former boyfriend John Sullivan and smashed his possessions.

In a fit of rage she wrecked his computer, television, video and CD system. She destroyed a coffee table, a five-foot mirror, an alarm clock and bottles of aftershave.

She knocked a microwave on to the kitchen floor and broke five pictures.

She also wrecked three valuable guitars owned by Mr Sullivan, a musician.

The court heard Mr Sullivan estimated the cost of damage to his basement flat in Wilbury Road, Hove, at between £5,000 and £7,000.

Lacey, a 42-year-old widow who had never been in trouble with the law before, admitted a charge of criminal damage when she appeared at Brighton Magistrates Court.

But Lacey, of Rowe Avenue, Peacehaven, disputed the value and at an earlier hearing magistrates ruled the damage at £2,000.

John Marsden-Lynch, prosecuting, said Mr Sullivan, a plumber, had ended their two-year relationship because she was putting pressure on him to make more of a commitment.

He said a sore point during their relationship was Mr Sullivan's continuing close relationship with his ex-wife.

Mr Marsden-Lynch said: "There was a degree of jealousy in her behaviour."

Peter Hofford, defending, told the court something just snapped that night because Lacey felt so betrayed after Mr Sullivan had spent the evening with his ex-wife.

Stipendiary magistrate James Shrimpton gave Lacey a two-year conditional discharge but made no compensation order.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.