Nigel Abraham, 50, of Glensdale Terrace, East End Park, Leeds, had denied the charge but was remanded on bail to August 11 when he will be sentenced.

Deputy District Judge Leo Pyle, sitting at Leeds Magistrates' Court on Thursday, said he wanted a pre-sentence report before passing judgment but he had in mind a community sentence.

Abraham had previously been warned by police about his conduct towards Christine Wilson when she was a vicar at Goring-by-Sea in Sussex.

She became Archdeacon of Chesterfield this year.

James Goddard, prosecuting, said that Abraham had made phone calls last autumn which upset the Rev Wilson and her husband Alan.

Abraham had told her: "Sex and ambition – that is what you are about."

And on a church website he left a message which said: "Her only intention is to get to the top."

He phoned again when he spoke to Alan Wilson and told him: "The reason your daughter will die is because your wife is very wicked."

The Wilsons' daughter Sarah was terminally ill and died two or three weeks later.

In a voicemail message, Abraham claimed Mrs Wilson was the "spitting image" of glamour model Jo Guest.

PC Adam Speight, who arrested him, said the defendant told him: "She dyes her hair blonde just like Jo Guest.

"She is evil and only interested in power. She will never be a bishop. I will do whatever I can to stop her. I would have to kill her if there was ever a chance of her becoming a bishop."

Mrs Wilson said she was upset by the phone call last October. "I was alarmed because it looked as if he was starting up a pattern of contacting me again," she said.

In the witness box, Abraham made rambling, confused statements and at one point said: "The church is an evil body politic and should be investigated.

"I am not agreeing or disagreeing that I sent messages. I will leave that to the court to decide."

He said: "I had become tired of Mrs Wilson's behaviour towards me."