A pensioner who terrorised his neighbours was given a conditional discharge.

John Douglas, 72, spent months on remand waiting to be sentenced for a four day campaign of harassment against his Kidlington neighbours that saw him approach their front door with a pitchfork and shout foul-mouthed abuse.

The delay was the result of efforts to obtain reports, which proved contradictory, about Douglas’ fitness to plead. Then, later, lawyers struggled to get the defendant assessed by social services to check his suitability for supported housing or a care home.

Last week, after serving the equivalent of a year-long prison sentence, Douglas was given a 12 month conditional discharge by Judge Ian Pringle QC. A restraining order bans him from contacting his neighbours.

Oxford Mail: HHJ Ian Pringle QC, Recorder of OxfordHHJ Ian Pringle QC, Recorder of Oxford

The court previously heard how Douglas repeatedly tried to get into his next door neighbour’s home in Maple Avenue, Kidlington, between September 4 and 7 last year.

He was caught on the homeowner’s CCTV-enabled doorbell coming up to the front door and trying the handle into the early hours of the morning. On one occasion he approached the door with a pitchfork in hand.

Douglas was arrested on September 5 but returned home and, the next day, chased the neighbour – who locked himself in a friend’s car. 

On September 7, the pensioner ‘charged’ at his neighbour, who opened the door after Douglas ‘returned on a number of occasions within a short space of time’. 

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