A NURSE had an angry confrontation with a man accused of murdering his next-door neighbour over DIY noise, a court heard.

Roberta Donaghy said Christopher Hoyland put notes through her letter box complaining about her slamming the front door, in the months before the killing.

Mr Hoyland, of St Barnabas Road, Middlesbrough, is on trial accused of the murder of his neighbour, 48-year-old electrician George Evans. He denies the charge.

Mr Evans, who ran his own electrical firm on Teesside, died from a single stab wound to the neck after he was attacked on the doorstep of his home, on November 19 last year.

The prosecution alleged Mr Hoyland stabbed his neighbour to death following a confrontation over noisy DIY.

Mrs Donaghy, who works at the St James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, told the court yesterday she had received two notes from the defendant complaining about noise coming from her house.

One note, in May last year, read: "For God's sake can't you shut your door with patience".

The following month, a further note was pushed through her letter box which read: "If I hear that door slam one more time I will take it off its hinges".

She said: "I confronted him about it. I said that if he sent any more notes, I would go to the police for harassment.

"He said that if I was a better neighbour he would not have to put notes through the door. I was very angry."

Mrs Donaghy told the court she lived in a terraced house adjoining Mr Hoyland's. Mr Evans lived on the other side of the defendant's house.

A 12-year-old schoolgirl, who was passing through the area at the time of Mr Evans' death, said she had seen a man banging at his front door. The man then entered the house and came out five minutes later, she told the court.

The trial continues.