A two-day appeal hearing for a pensioner found guilty of digging up his neighbours plants and moving their dustbins will now be heard in October.

John Weiniger, 72, was convicted by Oxford magistrates earlier this year of harassing his Mollington neighbours, surgeons James and Samantha Miller.

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He claimed the couple ‘stole’ a two-inch sliver of land after they moved into the £950,000 house next to his. It left him unable to take his African Grey parrot, ‘Captain’, out for trips in the car.

At night, Weiniger dug up the Millers’ flowerbed, tossed turf over a wall into their garden, dragged the couple’s dustbins down the road and put his own wheelie bins in their place. His after-dark antics were caught on CCTV.

Having been found guilty at the magistrates’ court in January, Weiniger then appealed his convictions to the crown court.

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A two-day appeal hearing was fixed for July 7. However, on Tuesday, the pensioner’s barrister Richard Davies asked for the date to be moved to give the defence legal team more time to compile expert reports.

The current strike by barristers also means that July 7 and 8 are the only days that week when Legal Aid cases are likely to be heard, resulting in a busy list for the crown court judges.

Recorder John Hardy QC took the appeal out of the list and re-fixed it for October 20 to 21.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward