A man has been hypnotised into having an affair with a psychic and spending thousands of pounds during his extra-marital relationship with her, it has been claimed.

Former amateur racing driver, Jim Gotobed, spent around £12,000 on Tracie Long during a ten month affair, which ended in Mr Gotobed divorcing his wife of 25 years.

At a hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates Court, it emerged that the aptly named Mr Gotobed felt he was “hypnotised” during his time with Ms Long and after sessions together he said he left “more deeply in love with her”.

Agency reports published by The Telegraph revealed that the extraordinary accusation came out after Ms Long took Mr Gotobed to court accusing him of harassment and stating that he repeatedly texted her, wrote to her parents, reported her to the Spiritualist Association and threatened to kill her. The magistrates threw out these claims, however, stating that they believed Mr Gotobed’s version of events over that of Ms Long.

Mr Gotobed said that his relationship with the psychic had begun 30 years earlier but that the pair rekindled their friendship through Facebook. He claimed that she had conducted Tarot readings for him and that on the first reading she spoke of a “dark force about him”, suggesting that it related to his marriage and advised him to “get a quick divorce”.

As their relationship progressed, it is claimed that Ms Long sought out financial benefit, urging Mr Gotobed to sell prized possessions to “unburden himself”.

The court case does not appear to have been resolved as yet and our crystal ball hasn’t been able to predict what the result will be.

Houdini-style escape ends badly. 

A prisoner has made an extraordinary escape from the court dock after being told he had been refused bail.

Craig Ellis, 30, appeared in Lincoln Magistrates’ Court for his trial as a cat burglar. However, after he learnt that he was due to remain in custody he made a desperate bid for freedom.

The former drug addict used a wooden shelf to shift himself up and through the narrow ceiling bars of the dock he was being held in. From here, Ellis managed to slide his entire body through the tiny gap as the stunned dock officer desperately tried to pull him back by his legs, the Telegraph reported.

The burglar then made a bid for freedom, running towards the exit of the court room. However, he was thwarted when a probation officer who witnessed the escape quickly forced the doors shut. After running around the court room for less than a minute, Ellis gave up on his grand escape and was escorted back to the dock.

Judge Michael Heath when jailing Ellis told him: “This was a very determined effort to escape from the court. It was only thanks to the quick thinking of a probation officer that you were unable to do so.”

The judge went on to jail the burglar for three years and three months for his crimes and the escape bid from custody.

Batman doing his civic duty. Image credit: West Yorkshire Police/PA Wire

A man dressed as the character of Batman has handed in a wanted individual to a police station in Bradford.

The unknown man walked into Trafalgar House police station on 25 February and handed a suspected criminal in to the officers, who were left clueless about the identity of the masked man.

A spokesman for the Yorkshire police said: “The person who brought the wanted man into the station was dressed in a full Batman outfit. His identity, however, remains unknown.”

Since the ‘Batman’ handed over the offender, he has been arrested by officers on suspicion of burglary, fraud and breaching a court order; and charged with handling stolen goods and fraud-related offenses. The man will appear at Bradford magistrates court on 8 March to stand trial.

Meanwhile, nothing more has been learned about the identity of the real-life superhero. The only clue at the moment appears to be the fact that he was wearing a costume inspired by the 1960s TV series rather than the recent Christopher Nolan incarnation of the hero.