A disabled man who sent threatening and sexually explicit letters to a couple he befriended has been found guilty of harassment.

Barrie Ebdon, 58, of Rowlands Road, Worthing, denied intending to harass the couple between July and December last year.

He was found guilty after a two-day trial at Brighton Magistrates Court yesterday.

Ebdon, who uses a wheelchair, sent up to 100 letters over three years to Dennis and Elizabeth Fowler from Portslade.

The long notes detailed concerns he had with the police, his ex-wives, the Church and legal proceedings he was involved in.

They also gave intimate details about his sex life.

Ebdon told magistrates he wrote the letters because of verbal harassment he was receiving through a third party.

The court heard the couple were shocked and distressed by the letters.

Mr Fowler met Ebdon four years ago when he became a regular customer at the garage in Brighton Road, Shoreham, where Mr Fowler worked as a cashier.

In 1999 the garage manager asked Ebdon to stop coming to the garage and shortly afterwards the letters started arriving.

The magistrates heard Ebdon had been warned by police to stop writing letters to two other women.

Magistrates ordered psychiatric reports and adjourned the case until September 3 for sentence.

Ebdon was granted conditional bail.