A MAN jailed after subjecting his neighbours to a hate campaign failed yesterday to win a cut in his sentence.

Appeal Court judges refused to alter the two-year sentence on Francis Goble, imposed by a judge at Newcastle Crown Court on June 13 after he admitted being in breach of a restraining order.

And they issued a stark warning to him that he would be locked up again if he continued his campaign after his eventual release.

The restraining order was put on Goble, 65, of Front Street, Dipton, County Durham, under the Protection From Harassment Act 1997.

Mr Justice Mitting, sitting with Lord Justice Dyson and Judge Fabyan Evans, said Goble had conducted a prolonged campaign of making false allegations of criminal conduct against his neighbours.

In a preliminary Appeal Court hearing in August, judges were told how his neighbours were put under police surveillance after Goble falsely told officers they were engaged in criminal activities.

Mr Justice Mitting said psychiatric reports revealed that Goble was "fixated" with a piece of land at the centre of a dispute with his neighbours and accused them of "taking part of in a plot to deprive him of his property".

Dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice Mitting said the two-year sentence Goble got was "not a day too long," and that the pensioner should watch his future behaviour.

He said: "If this conduct is repeated on his release, or there is a further breach of the restraining order, he must be aware that the court will call him back to prison."