A SENIOR university official whose poison pen letters and vandalism drove families from their homes and brought terror to a plush cul-de-sac was jailed yesterday.

For two years Andrew Bewley, 39, terrorised the residents of respectable middle-class Wharfedale Close, on the Teesside estate of Ingleby Barwick.

Teesside magistrates heard how police took DNA and fingerprint samples from residents in a bid to track down the culprit, but it was only when Bewley was caught on security cameras vandalising property that the truth emerged.

Bewley lived in a £100,000 four-bedroom detached home with his wife and two-year-old child, next door to widow Annette Dales and her three children.

Guy Prest, prosecuting, told how the offending began in 1998 after Bewley blamed the teenager for damage to his wife's car.

Bewley sent menacing letters to every resident of the close, hoping blame would fall on his teenage neighbour, forcing the Dales to leave.

He also sent offensive and threatening letters to Mrs Dales, damaged her property, and sent troublemaking anonymous letters to social services, local schools and the police.

One letter, addressed to the then 16-year-old Andrew Dales, contained abuse about his father, who had died of a brain tumour.

Mrs Dales, a 41-year-old staff nurse, was led to the brink of suicide by the torment but never suspected that her neighbour was behind the terror, until he was caught on film.

Guy Prest, prosecuting, told how the letters - which led to three families moving out and went into great detail about the resident's lives, were offensive and made threats of violence and damage to property.

Bewley, 39, the staff training development officer with Teesside University, admitted criminal damage, harassment and making a threat to destroy property.

He asked for five similar offences to be taken into consideration.

His solicitor, Paul Dixon, told the court: "He feels deep shame and embarrassment at what he has done."

Mr Dixon claimed Bewley, his wife and child had been subjected to years of verbal abuse from the Dales family and had snapped.

Urging the magistrates not to jail Bewley, he said a custodial sentence would result in loss of his job and home and have a devastating effect on his family.

But Edward Kemp, chairman of the bench, said jail was inevitable.

"These offences were carried out in a cold, calculating and sophisticated manner," he said.

Bewley's solicitor immediately lodged an appeal but magistrates turned down a bail application.

As Bewley was led away in handcuffs to the cells his wife Mary, a probation service worker, looked stunned and had to be helped to a sideroom by a colleague.

Bewley was sentenced to two months' jail for the offences against the Dales and neighbour Sylvia Lacy.

The magistrates also issued a restraining order preventing him from contacting eight households in the close.

Asked later about Bewley's future in his job, a spokesman said: "The university is unable to comment on what remains a personal matter.