A PRISON OFFICER took the law into his hands when he found out his wife had been having an affair.

Darren Penrose embarked on a campaign of harassment in which he:

Inundated Ian Collett's mobile phone with calls

Beat him up outside a York pub

Lay in wait for him on the York ring road, then rammed his car and attacked him with a monkey wrench.

Penrose was today starting 12 months on the wrong side of the cell door after York Crown Court heard of his harassment of Mr Collett.

He was jailed for a year after prosecutor Nicholas Ralph described how Penrose, 43, discovered his wife's affair through a document in her handbag on May 9.

He repeatedly phoned Mr Collett, then drove off to the area where he lived. Eventually, Mr Collett agreed to meet Penrose near the Flying Legends pub, Clifton Moor, where the prison officer attacked him.

A few days later, as Mr Collett was on his way to work, Penrose lay in wait for him on the northern York ring road near the Haxby Road roundabout, and drove his Vauxhall car at Mr Collett's car so hard that it spun right round.

Penrose then went for his victim with a monkey wrench, and was only stopped when a passing van driver saw what was happening, intervened, and wrestled the prison officer to the ground.

Defence barrister David Cadman said the discovery of his wife's infidelity had come at a time when Penrose was already suffering from depression. The couple had been married for 21 years, but unknown to him, she had been carrying on the affair for 18 months. She had now left the family home.

Penrose, of Stonebridge Drive, Wilberfoss, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and harassment.

He was jailed for a year and banned from driving for the same period. He was also ordered to keep away from Mr Collett indefinitely.

"I cannot blame you for feeling aggrieved against Mr Collett," Judge Paul Hoffman, the Honorary Recorder of York, told him. "But it is wholly unacceptable that you should then engage in a campaign of harassment against him."

Mr Cadman said Penrose had been a prison officer for 14 years and now faced the sack. He had an exemplary work record and the attacks were out of character.

Updated: 09:28 Saturday, September 04, 2004