CONVICTED killer Dennis Scott today won his latest court battle, after being cleared of threatening to damage a neighbour's car.

But, following the 'not guilty' verdict, delivered by a jury at Durham Crown Court, the former gangland figure said he still hopes to clear his name for the 'One Arm Bandit' murder of Angus Sibbett in County Durham in 1967, which inspired the cult film Get Carter.

Mr Sibbett, a cash collector for Mr Scott's fruit machine business, was found shot dead in a Jaguar car, under Pesspool Bridge, South Hetton, in the early hours of January 5, 1967.

Seventy-five-year-old Mr Scott, formerly known as Stafford, hopes to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr Scott's comments were made shortly after the unanimous 'not guilty' verdict was returned by the jury at Durham.

It followed a three-day trial over an alleged threat made by Mr Scott to have a car owned by a neighbour, Charles Scott, "torched".

He was involved in a dispute with Charles Scott over ownership of parts of Stanhope Castle, where both live.

The parking of Charles Scott's replica kit model of a 1950s Royale Sabre car, in a garage Dennis Scott claimed he owned, became the subject of particular ill-feeling between them.

Several weeks after Dennis Scott was alleged to have made the threat, the car was destroyed in a fire which spread from the garage to workshops he also owned.

Read the full story in tomorrow's edition of The Northern Echo