SCORNED woman Shauna Highet put a hoax bomb through an Exeter man's letterbox after he refused to have a relationship with her, Exeter Crown Court was told.

The 48-year-old, of Clifton Street, Newtown, also stalked him with phone texts and repeatedly rang the emergency services in a "cry for help".

The court was told on Friday that the victim's lodger found a melted plastic milk bottle, with an unknown substance inside, in the letterbox of his home, which is also in Newtown.

Highet, who has mental health difficulties, has pleaded guilty to harassment and making a bomb hoax. She also admitted a charge of persistent use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety.

Judge Stephen Wildblood QC adjourned sentencing until August 20, for a psychiatric report.

Prosecutor Christopher Bennett said: "It's only ever been friendship, they were purely friends. She made it clear she wanted to develop the relationship, he made it equally clear he did not."

In March this year, Highet told the man she loved him and wanted to marry him.

"He declined," said the prosecutor. "He knew she had medical problems and no-one else to turn to, which was a motivation for his friendship."

During May and June, she sent him mobile phone text messages in which she called him "horrible," swore at him and threatened to firebomb him. "He took it with a pinch of salt," said the prosecutor.

On May 30, he refused to visit her, which the prosecutor said was a "trigger" for the bomb hoax. His lodger returned, around 2am the next morning and saw a squashed plastic milk bottle poking out of the letterbox. "It had a disposable lighter inside and some tissues sticking out of the neck which had melted," said Mr Bennett.

The lodger thought it was petrol but police seized the item and thought the liquid might be hand-wash.

She was arrested and officers found 12 texts on her mobile phone to the victim including one mentioning a Molotov cocktail, and references to having nothing to lose.

Mr Bennett said: "The victim said, in a statement, that he was very upset about it all, he was too old for this and he was shaking and nervous and doesn't want anything to do with her."

Highet had called the police switchboard on the same night, May 31, saying she had made a bomb and was going to put it through a letterbox. She called again minutes later with a similar message.

When interviewed she admitted similar calls to the police and ambulance service, which she said had been a cry for help. Mr Bennett said: "She told police that she felt like a woman scorned, she acted on impulse, she never intended to hurt or kill him."

The offences breach a suspended prison sentence she was given for possessing a knife in a public place.

Defence counsel Peter Seigne said Highet had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.