A SUPPLY teacher who harassed his estranged wife over a 14-month period has been jailed for five months.

And Blackburn magistrates imposed an indefinite restraining order on Dennis Melling after hearing how he had made her life a misery through his 'persistent and determined' efforts.

Speaking after the case his wife Carol Melling said: "I am just relieved it is all over."

The court heard that Melling refused to accept that their 30-year relationship was over and had taken to following Carol Melling to her home in Clitheroe and her workplace, Blackburn Library.

Eddie Harrison, prosecuting, said Mrs Melling's friendship with another man had to be stopped because of her estranged husband's behaviour and he had failed to heed numerous warnings given to him by the police.

Melling, 51, of Woodcrest, Wilpshire, Blackburn, had been convicted after a trial of harassment and using threatening behaviour towards a police officer. The restraining order prohibits him from having any contact with Carol Melling, entering the town boundaries of Clitheroe or entering Blackburn Central Library.

Mr Harrison said the couple had three children, two of who are at university and the other has left home, and there was no need to contact his wife because of them.

"He continued to harass her by attending at her home and her place of work," said Mr Harrison. "He has followed her and she has suffered considerably as a result of the stress that this has placed on her. In evidence he said his primary purpose in sitting near her home in his car was to see his children but his secondary purpose was to monitor any boyfriends she had. He said that if they got back in the future he would know if she was telling the truth about her relationships."

Mr Harrison asked the magistrates to make an indefinite restraining order that would fit the 'persistent and determined' efforts Melling had made to harass his estranged wife.

"There is no need for him to contact her in the future and I would say the three conditions are reasonable in respect of the distress that has been caused to Mrs Melling and to enable her to get on with her life," said Mr Harrison.

"The exclusion from Clitheroe will allow her to go about her business in the town in the knowledge that she will not come across this man."

Melling has not been represented throughout the proceedings. After conviction the magistrates adjourned for pre-sentence reports but Melling said he had not received an appointment to attend the probation service.

He told a probation officer that he was not prepared to answer certain questions and referred to the probation service as "part of the Mafia establishment."

He told the court that his wife had left him because of 'worldly greed' and because he had taken religion. He said he was trying to maintain a marriage made in church and had the seal of children.

He said his wife had had a relationship with a man half her age who was totally insensitive to the destruction he was causing. Melling claimed he had shown great restraint when his wife had waved a kitchen knife in his face and by placing flowers on her doorstep at a time when the other man was in her house.