My sister-in-law tried to mow me down together with her Mercedes at Tesco in a ‘marketing campaign of terror’ – I’ve by no means achieved something to her other than marry her brother

A woman who tried to intimidate her sister-in-law by nearly mowing her down in a Tesco car park subjected her to a several-year ‘campaign of terror’, the victim claimed today.

Nicola Hewitson, 56, lay in wait outside the superstore in Poole, Dorset before accelerating her £35,000 Mercedes B-class at her brother’s wife, Michelle Jennings, as she emerged pushing a trolley.

Shocking footage showed Hewitson looking as though she was about to mow down Ms Jennings before she swerved around her and shouted ‘I will f***ing kill you.’

Hewitson, from the wealthy seaside village of Canford Cliffs, was found guilty on Tuesday and slapped with an 18 month conditional discharge – which she has today appealed.

Yet now, speaking in an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Ms Jennings and her husband of 18 months Mark Hewitson, 55, ‘intimidated’ the defendant for years.

‘I just want a quiet life. I have never, ever had to deal with anything like this in my life. Never before,’ Ms Jennings explained.

‘It was one thing for someone not like you but for someone to loathe you to the point you are dead, is just another level. And that’s been quite hard to cope with. I don’t think of her as my family but it has been really tricky.’

‘I just want her to stop. I have never done anything to her apart from marry her brother,’ she added. ‘It does not make sense to me. It’s just been an absolute nightmare for a few years. We have tried to do our own thing but it just keeps coming back.’

Her husband, whom she has been with for seven years and shares a three-year-old daughter added: ‘It’s been going on for years and years and years.

‘I don’t understand it all but she’s unfortunately just relentless. Telling people around the town what she is going to do and things like that.

‘We thought this guilty verdict for harassing and threatening would be it but she has just appealed meaning Michelle might need to go in to be a witness again, which we don’t need.’

The family feud began just six months after Mr Hewitson began his relationship with Ms Jennings.

The pair, who live just two miles down the road from their ‘nightmare’ relative claim they still do not know what the true cause of the long-running argument was.

Following a family row, Hewitson had formed a closer relationship with the sibling’s father, who passed away earlier this year, and since has become ‘jealous’ of her property developer brother’s successful business.’

‘I can’t pinpoint a situation where she suddenly thought I now no longer like you. It was a gradual thing, she just didn’t like me,’ Ms Jennings, who works providing prosthetics for women who have breast cancer, said.

‘She’s a criminal, I’m not and I don’t think she liked that I was a ‘goody-two-shoes’ or in her circle. I am just different to her and I don’t think she likes it.’

‘The further into our relationship we got, the angrier she got,’ Mr Hewitson added. ‘I went on to do my own thing and my company is okay now and I think Nicola is very bitter and jealous about that.

‘It’s now just manifested. We go somewhere and we see them, Nicola is very verbally abusive. We tried to get a restraining order but the court refused that.

‘So we are now back in the same position. Friends of ours would go to a pub every Sunday for lunch but we now can’t go there in case she’s there. She has just got this hatred campaign against Shelly for no reason. It’s a campaign of terror.’

Over the years, the couple claimed that Hewitson had made a series of threats over the years.

On one occasion, they said she was drunk in a bar telling mutual friends she was going to ‘kill’ Ms Jennings claiming that she was ‘prepared to go to jail for six years’ for the crime.

On another, they say Hewitson posted their new home address all over social media.

Video footage shown in court showed the moment Hewitson drove towards Ms Jennings on January 19 this year.

Ms Jennings gave Hewitson, who was driving with her cancer-stricken father in the passenger seat, the middle finger. The incident was caught on CCTV from the Branksome Tesco branch and played back in court.

The victim added today: ‘The weirdest thing was I knew she was going to do it. When I looked to the right as I walked across the road to get my car, I saw her number plate in the peripheral and I thought, oh my god I know what she’s going to do.

‘I walked like a snail, so slowly, because I knew what she was going to do. And as I started walking, I heard her accelerator go and I froze. I put my middle finger up but then I got to my car and I broke down.’

Leah Dillon, prosecuting, told magistrates in Poole: ‘Miss Hewitson was not happy that Miss Jennings had married the defendant’s brother.

‘There was some planning because the car was parked outside. Miss Jennings looked right for traffic and saw the defendant’s vehicle and it had pulled away and was coming towards her.

‘Miss Hewitson drove towards Miss Jennings and then as she approached her she hit the brakes and she swerved around her.

‘She was screaming out of the window and said ‘I will f***ing kill you’ and called her fat. The victim stuck up her middle finger at her in response. Later the defendant sent Miss Jennings a message about the incident.’

Ms Dillon read Miss Jennings’ victim impact statement. She claimed she had been subjected to a ‘reign of terror’ by Hewitson.

She said: ‘Even shopping is a daunting task for me now. I now avoid local gatherings due to the verbal abuse thrown at me. It has gone to unprecedented levels. It is a reign of terror.’

Julian Hardy, defending, said: ‘Miss Hewitson is disappointed that the court did not find in her favour. She has been compliant throughout all the proceedings.

‘Her father died in March this year of cancer and she had previously been estranged from her mother and brother.

‘Miss Hewitson lives a stable lifestyle and has held a position as a property manager for 20 years and this is a position with a high level of trust.

‘You can be satisfied that there should not be any further issues.’

Hewitson was sentenced to an 18 month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £600 in costs and fines.

She has since appealed the case.

Speaking after the case, Ms Jennings said: ‘I’m glad that it’s over and I hope that she leaves me and my family alone. We just don’t want to have anything to do with her. Mark and I are both really devastated that she wasn’t given a restraining order.’