A WOMAN bombarded her love rival with more than 700 nuisance phone calls after their bitter feud erupted in violence.

Kristin Thompson began her vendetta after suspecting her boyfriend of rekindling an affair with Dawn Atkinson, Richmond magistrates in North Yorkshire were told yesterday.

In just over a month, the 22-year-old chef made 459 nuisance calls to Miss Atkinson's mobile phone and a further 261 calls to her mother's hotel - at one point virtually jamming the line. None of the calls lasted more than a few seconds but Thompson was unaware that BT was still able to trace them.

Emma Pearce, prosecuting, said the long history of resentment began when Thompson found out that Miss Atkinson had an affair with her boyfriend of four years.

The feuding pair had already been warned by police on several occasions after a series of complaints, allegations and counter allegations.

The bad feeling spilled into violence last year when Thompson, of Wensleydale, admitted assaulting Miss Atkinson.

Richmond magistrates were told then how she knocked her rival to the ground after driving into the back of Miss Atkinson's car in Leyburn town centre.

The pair continued arguing and shouting insults and abuse until police arrived.

Thompson was fined a total of £330 last October after admitting assault, careless driving and driving without insurance. She was also banned from driving for six months.

However, Ms Pearce told yesterday's hearing that Thompson's earlier court appearance had failed to end the feud. She said both women continued to make complaints to police over phone calls and text messages received from each other.

The women later clashed at a village dance in Aysgarth. It was then that Thompson - who believed Miss Atkinson was still seeing her boyfriend - stepped up her nuisance calls campaign.

Miss Atkinson left Leyburn and moved to her mother's Palmer Flatts Hotel in Aysgarth in a bid to escape the vendetta. Thompson simply began phoning the hotel instead, said Ms Pearce.

At one stage, the calls came at a rate of 47 in just over an hour, damaging the family business.

According to BT records, 28 per cent of calls received by the hotel in 37 days between December 2002 and January 14 this year came from Thompson's mobile.

Yesterday, Thompson admitted harassment.

The court imposed a two-year restraining order, banning Thompson of Main Street, West Witton, near Leyburn, from contacting Miss Atkinson.

She was also ordered to complete a 100-hour community punishment order and £55 costs.

Philip Brown, for Thompson, said the calls could only be described as a nuisance and that no threats were made. "She now realises what she did was stupid and entirely wrong," he said.

The Atkinson family declined to comment afterwards but a family friend said the vendetta had been a "living nightmare".

"They couldn't change the hotel number because they could make things worse for the business."