Woman guilty of 'bizarre' car carving

A retractable knife was used to carve four-letter words

A policeman involved in a case involving a woman in her 60s who repeatedly carved swear words on cars has said it was one of strangest cases he ever worked on.

At Newport Crown Court on Friday, 62-year-old Elaine Meredith from Caldicot in south Wales, was found guilty on eight counts of criminal damage.

When I came on duty one day to learn that a pensioner had been arrested I thought my colleagues were pulling my leg

Detective Consstable Martin Harries

The court had heard show she used a retractable knife to carve the expletives on cars near her home over an 18-month period.

"Without a shadow of a doubt, this has got to be the most bizarre case I have ever encountered," said Detective Constable Martin Harries.

Recorder Joseph Cork dismissed 30 similar charges after ruling that there was too little evidence to link them to Meredith.

He had heard that after failing to catch the person responsible for the vechicle attacks, police enlisted the help of a handwriting expert.

He then examined tracings of the swear words taken the from cars and linked them.

"The case was utterly baffling and I initially thought teenagers were responsible," Mr Harries added.

The judge dismissed 30 similar charges

"When I came on duty one day to learn that a pensioner had been arrested I thought my colleagues were pulling my leg."

The court had heard that Meredith - who denied the charges - had been previously jailed for six months for harassing police in Bournmouth with telephone calls.

It emerged that she had also been jailed for threatening to petrol bomb a housing estate in Newport, south Wales.

The widow was eventually caught for her latest crime last October when a car owner saw her and made a citizen's arrest.

Forensic tests linked her with to the damaged car. But despite being charged, she continued her campaign of destruction.

Recorder Joseph Cork adjourned the case for psychological reports and told Meredith he remained perplexed by her unprovoked attacks.

She is expected to return to court for sentencing later next month.