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.