A jealous woman who sent a dead mouse in a Jiffy bag to her ex-boyfriend’s new partner could be jailed after being convicted of stalking.

Poppy Carter, 29, was convicted of stalking Carly Bradbury during the course of a seven-month hate campaign last year.

Carter poured white paint over a van Miss Bradbury used for her work with a cat protection charity while it was parked outside the home she shared with Carter's ex, Alex Roberts, in Watford.

A few days later she attacked the same vehicle with a corrosive substance, causing the paintwork to blister.

At one point, she employed a private investigator to find out where her ex-boyfriend and his new love were living, sending anonymous letters and cards to the address.

She also sent Miss Bradbury a sinister card depicting a cat closely watching a goldfish in a goldfish bowl.

Prosecutor Daniel Wright said it had been an "extremely distressing and frightening thing to find”.

Mr Roberts told the jury the ordeal left Miss Bradbury "in bits" and she was prescribed anti-depressants as a result.

Carter, now of Upper Lattimore Road in St Albans but who at the time was living in Hemel Hempstead, was found guilty of stalking Miss Bradbury, plus causing serious alarm and distress to her.

Today (Monday) at St Albans Crown Court, recorder Leslie Cuthbert adjourned sentencing so a psychological assessment could take place, but he warned Carter that a custodial sentence was uppermost in his mind.