WHAM fan Brian Turner tortured neighbours by blasting out their hit Last Christmas all night.

For several hours he repeatedly played the festive favourite at full volume from 1am onwards, one night in May.

Now Turner has been silenced after becoming the first noise nuisance to be prosecuted by Newcastle City Council's Night Watch Team.

Magistrates in Gosforth fined Turner, of Doncaster Road, Sandyford, £200 and ordered him to pay £215 costs.

The court heard how he was visiting friends in a flat in Brampton Avenue, Walker, on May 15 when the night from hell started for neighbours.

He played the classic hit by George Michael, whose hits with Wham included Bad Boys, relentlessly from 1am to 4am until a neighbour snapped and called in the so-called noise police who eventually gave the locals peace by seizing the stereo.

A 57-year-old woman, who asked not to be named, lives in the flat below and said she was "driven mad" by the out-of-season song.

"The music was pounding through the flat," she said. "It just went on and on and on until I couldn't stand it any more. I called the 101 non-emergency hotline.

"It was like living in a music box. It was horrendous, deafening. The flat is empty now and we're all pleased they're gone."

Another said: "It was like a form of torture. The same song over and over again. It was a terrible night until they were sorted out."

A city council spokesman said: "This particular case took place on May 15, during the first week that the service was available every day.

"At about 1am, the Night Watch team were called to a city council property in Brampton Avenue following complaints to the 101 line. At 1.45am council officers entered the premises, turned the equipment down and asked the three people in the flat, one of whom was Mr Turner, to be quiet.

"Fifteen minutes later, a further complaint was made and the officers returned to the address, this time with police support, to serve a written warning notice preventing the occupiers from making a noise between 2.55am and 7am.

"While the officers were completing their paperwork in their car outside the property, the sound of music resumed from the flat. It was so loud that officers could clearly identify the track being played as Last Christmas by Wham. The police returned and the equipment was seized from the property at 3.45am."

Coun Anita Lower, the council's executive member for regulation, said: "In most instances a visit from the Night Watch team is all that is required to deal with problems of night time noise.

"However, in a very few cases such as this, people continue to be noisy even after they have been warned and leave us with little option but to take action.

No-one should have to put up with this kind of continual aggravation and I am pleased that the Magistrates have backed the actions we have taken."

eanwhile, three further noise pests have faced the music.