A retired pharmacist and his ex-ballet dancer wife have been ordered to pay more than £2,300 after they sent their daughter a birthday card addressed 'Abuser of the Year' during a bitter family feud.

Steven Freedman, 76, and wife Hedy, 72, sent daughter Danielle Hampson, 46, the insulting card in a tit-for-tat correspondence exchange in a row over them wanting to see more of her children.

The Freedmans, both pillars of the Jewish community in Liverpool, have now been landed with a criminal record after they admitted sending an indecent or grossly offensive letter at the city's magistrates' court this week.

Retired pharmacist Steven Freedman, 76, and his ex-ballet dancer wife Hedy, 72, (together, left) have been ordered to pay more than £2,300 after they sent their daughter, Danielle Hampson, 46, (right) a birthday card addressed 'Abuser of the Year' during a bitter family feud

Mr Freedman was fined £1,600 and ordered to pay costs of £235 whilst his wife was fined £400 and ordered to pay costs of £110.

The court heard the family feud escalated 2014 when the Freedmans fell out with their only child, an NSPCC volunteer and psychotherapist, and she stopped them having direct contact with her two children aged seven and ten.

The couple, from Crosby, had sent their daughter the card in retaliation after she sent them a cut-out of a newspaper article which reported her being given a 'Woman of the Year' award in May last year.

Miss Hampson who volunteers for Jewish Women's Aid and South Liverpool Domestic Abuse Services posted a copy of the Jewish Chronicle newspaper featuring an article about her winning 'Mensch of the Year' at a ceremony in London to those who positively contribute towards the Jewish community's wellbeing.

But the grandparents who had been given restricted access to Miss Hampson's children believed the article was deliberately sent to goad them.

When they arrived back in the UK after one of their regular six month stints at their second home in Miami, Florida, Mr Freedman used cut-out letters from magazines as part of the couple's angry riposte.

The couple had sent their daughter the card in retaliation after she sent them a newspaper article about her being given a 'Woman of the Year' award

They sent the card alongside an email printed out from an American-based group called 'Alienated Grandparents Anonymous' which claims to helps those who suffer with 'alienation or isolation' from their grandchildren.

Mrs Freedman wrote the address on the envelope, knowing what it contained, the court heard.

Prosecuting, Hannah Griffith said: 'On December 12 2015, the complainant received a stamped brown envelope at her home address. Within that was an A4 piece of paper, split in half. There were stuck-in letters spelling out 'abuser of the year'.

'There was also an email printed out from 'alienated grandparents anonymous' with international headquarters in Naples, Florida, from Steven Freedman's email address.'

After receiving the letter Miss Hampson, a trained counsellor who helps victims domestic violence victims went to police saying she was concerned because she had kept her home address a secret and her parents had found out where she lived.

'I am constantly worried I will bump into or see my parents,' she said in a statement.

'I don't go out in public or do community events regarding my Jewish faith. I feel petrified I will see them. My mother has developed an unhealthy fixated behaviour towards my children where I feel I am being stalked.

'I feel she wants to take them off me and raise them. In February my daughter approached me and said, "nanny sends her love and is asking how we are". It made me feel horrible. I just want to be left alone and for the children to be left alone.'

She said she had experienced issues with her parents throughout her life and was concerned Mrs Freedman had an 'unhealthy fixation' on her grandchildren.

Julian Linskill, mitigating, called it a tragic case, arguing the Freedmans greatest punishment is knowing they are unlikely to see their grandchildren again.

'In 2014 Mr and Mrs Freedman fell out with their daughter,' he said. 'They have no idea to this day why that took place.They had been everything parents and grandparents should be up to that point.

'They provided a home for their daughter, paid for her wedding, paid for a £4,000 holiday for their daughter to come to Miami where they reside for part of the year and in all respects supported throughout her childhood and through adulthood.

'Whatever her motive was, the defendants felt goaded by the document she sent. They weren't accusing her of physical abuse in their response but perhaps mental abuse in depriving them from contact with their grandchildren.

'They accept they overstepped the mark but it seems to me they deserve the lightest touch the court can possibly bring in relation to sentence. They have now given up all hope of any reconciliation either with their daughter or with their grandchildren.'

Passing sentence District Judge Adam Shaw said: 'Miss Hampson can more accurately be described as a carer, not an abuser. She found the letter very hurtful.

'It's hard to say it can be sent with any other intent. Mr and Mrs Freedman both bear equal responsibly for the actual act involving the letter.

'The actions were mean. The description is obviously false and inappropriate.'

An application by Miss Hampson for a restraining order was turned down. Mr and Mrs Freedman declined to comment after the hearing.

But Miss Hampson said after the case: 'I was gobsmacked and devastated to get this card and it's not the first time they have done things like this.

'They have a long history towards other family members and to other people, sending poison pen letters and the like.

'I don't want any contact with them at all. There are no winners in this case. Only losers all the way round. My children don't have grandparents and I don't have my parents. I'm not going to be jumping for joy at the sentence. That's not what this was about.'