The mother-in-law from hell

A Devon woman has been branded the mother-in-law from hell after sending her son's fiancee an email lambasting her manners.

Carolyn Bourne's email to Heidi Withers, 29, went viral after the shocked PA shared it with some of her friends, reports The Sun.

Mrs Bourne, 60, of Dawlish, wrote it after her stepson Freddie brought Miss Withers home to meet the family.

The message slammed her "lack of grace" and branded her "an ideal candidate for the Ladette to Lady television series".

Part of the email read: "When you are a guest in another's house, you do not declare what you will and will not eat - unless you are positively allergic to something.

"You do not remark that you do not have enough food. You do not start before everyone else. You do not take additional helpings without being invited to by your host.

"You regularly draw attention to yourself. Perhaps you should ask yourself why. No one gets married in a castle unless they own it. It is brash, celebrity-style behaviour.

"I understand your parents are unable to contribute very much towards the cost of your wedding. If this is the case, it would be most ladylike and gracious to lower your sights and have a modest wedding as befits both your incomes."

She added: "If you want to be accepted by the wider Bourne family I suggest you take some guidance from experts with utmost haste."

Freddie Bourne, who runs an online bike shop and lives in Putney, South West London, declined to comment, as did his father Edward, 63.