THE former girlfriend of a Malvern man wept as she told a jury how she thought he would sacrifice her.

Benjamin Bonnaud left Jane Prophet terrified for the lives of her mother, Joan, and sister, Lisa, with a stream of sinister letters.

He even raked up details about the death of her father - racing driver David Prophet - in a helicopter crash 20 years ago.

Bonnaud sent Miss Prophet, a digital and video artist, five letters in October and November last year.

Giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court in London yesterday, Miss Prophet said that one sentence stating "sacrifice at Stonehenge" hinted at her death.

"I was afraid for my life," she sobbed. "I was afraid he wanted to sacrifice me."

Another passage of a letter read: "Your assignment to kill me on the hell machine has not gone unnoticed. Even Joan will be killed for her part."

The letter went on to suggest Miss Prophet's mother had "switched off" the Bell Ranger helicopter her husband was flying in when it crashed.

Bonnaud, aged 47, also wrote that her father's blood-soaked clothes were found in a sealed box outside Long Lartin prison, near Evesham.

"He made many references to many things quite pertinent to my life and family with some quite gruesome images," said Miss Prophet.

Referring to one passage, which suggested she and Bonnaud would die, Miss Prophet said: "I didn't know exactly what was meant, but believed there was an indication to me or him that I would die first."

Miss Prophet had met Bonnaud, of Pickersleigh Road, Malvern, when she was a 17-year-old studying A-levels in Leamington Spa in 1982.

The couple went on to share a house before the relationship broke up after a year.

Miss Prophet, now an established artist teaching at two London universities, had received "unwelcome" contact from Bonnaud over the years.

Then in October last year, she began receiving Bonnaud's confused letters with coded references to her family. On one occasion, she had to flee an exhibition she was holding when Bonnaud turned up wearing a top hat.

Bonnaud denies putting Miss Prophet in fear of violence, but has admitted writing the letters.

The judge, Mr Justice Stewart, yesterday discharged a second count of harassment against Bonnaud.

The jury is due to begin deliberating its verdict on Monday.

* 'They are 10 years of detective work'

IN his evidence to the court yesterday, Benjamin Bonnaud spoke repeatedly of his "detective work" over the past 10 years.

He claimed he had even taken a test flight in a Bell Ranger helicopter and obtained a copy of the air accident investigation report in his quest to find out how Miss Prophet's father David died.

He claimed Miss Prophet had lied to him, telling him the helicopter crash had happened at the family home of Clifford Manor, near Stratford-upon-Avon. Bonnaud said it had taken placed at Donnington racetrack.

Often struggling to read his own handwriting, Bonnaud said he and Miss Prophet were being "violated for their intelligence," adding that it would take at least two hours to explain what he meant.

The 47-year-old, dressed in a green tweed suit, denied intending to put Miss Prophet in fear of her life.

But his detailed letters threw up "gruesome" images, with references to contract killings, aristocratic military conspiracies and personal details.

"You have to understand that these are very personal letters sent in good faith to a very old friend," Bonnaud told the jury.

"These are not violent devices of any sort in any way whatsoever.

"It's my detective work over 10 years of looking into what went wrong, what happened to me and what happened to her. It was a protective device to tell her that thing were not so good."

Jonathan Wright, prosecuting, said a reasonable person ought to have known that Bonnaud's letters would put Miss Prophet in fear of violence.

But Peter Forbes, defending, dismissed Bonnaud's letters as "gibberish".

"What he's doing is putting down in writing what has been going through his head," said Mr Forbes.

He said there were no direct threats to Miss Prophet or her family and they had to be read in context.