A PENSIONER accused of waging a 12-year hate mail campaign against his neighbours denied yesterday that he was the Manfield poison pen writer.

Dr James Forster, 68, said he had not been acting suspiciously when two neighbours saw him in the shadows on the evening two insulting posters were found, but said he was "watching Jupiter rise".

And he said a supposed hate mail list found at his home was merely gossip he had picked up from the Women's Institute, the post office and the local church.

During the trial of Dr Forster, Teesside Crown Court has heard how numerous villagers received threats and abusive mail, a young woman was wrongly branded a prostitute in posters, and there was damage to cars and homes.

But Dr Forster, 68, of Grunton Lane, Manfield, said: "I have never done anything like that at all."

Police raided Dr Forster's two homes after he was seen leaping into a drive way in which abusive leaflets were found later that same night.

Dr Forster told the jury he was not behaving suspiciously, but was using binoculars to watch Jupiter rising and had jumped into the driveway to avoid being knocked over.

At his home, police found a list headed "people gossiped about by Collin".

The court heard that all but one of the names on the list received hate mail which said neighbourhood watch coordinator Eric Collin had spread malicious lies about them.

Dr Forster admitted making the list, but denied sending any hate mail. The pensioner said he had drawn up the list after hearing gossip about Mr Collin.

He said he, too, had received hate mail - 17 letters in all - signed A Friend or Nerd.

Last week, the court heard that paper used in a note sent to a 13-year-old girl, along with a pornographic magazine, was written on a piece of paper ripped from a larger sheet which was found at one of Mr Forster's homes.

Dr Forster, a regular churchgoer and former parish council clerk, told the court yesterday the paper was among reams of writing material he had collected dating back 40 years and had put in black bin liners outside the house, which were subsequently stolen.

Yesterday, Dr Forster was cleared of one of the charges against him on the direction of Judge David Bryant.

The court heard he had been charged under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 with causing Mr Collin to fear violence but the evidence produced preceded the date the law came into force.

Dr Forster denies ten charges remaining against him, which are three counts of causing damage, three counts of threatening to cause damage, three counts of sending obscene article and one count of incitement to burgle.

The trial continues.

Read more about Manfield here.