MAGISTRATES warned a man once dubbed a "neighbour from hell" that he could be facing a jail sentence, when he appeared in court over a fresh dispute yesterday.

Stephen Lawson, 41, was convicted of tormenting his neighbours when he lived in Kitchener Street, Darlington, before moving to Shildon, County Durham.

Yesterday, he appeared before Sedgefield Magistrates and admitted criminal damage after he daubed black paint over a neighbour's white door last Friday.

He also admitted breaching a two-year conditional discharge imposed last March for harassing a young mother next door, a month after being released from prison for attacking her.

Lawson, now of Station Street, Shildon, was dubbed by one prosecutor as an "obsessive neighbour from hell" who had made residents' lives in Kitchener Street a misery.

He harassed his neighbours, including an 87-year-old widow and a housebound pensioner, damaging cars and slashing tyres, before being convicted of criminal damage in October 1996, after a police surveillance operation.

He told the court at the time that his neighbours, who appeared as witnesses, were lying on oath and he was the victim of a hate campaign.

While on bail, staying with his mother at a sheltered housing complex, in Dalkeith Close, Darlington, complaints were received about him harassing the people there, and was ordered to leave the flat by the council.

The torment continued in Kitchener Street in February 1998 for his next-door neighbour, Tania Cleave, who was hit with a piece of wood by Lawson, causing an eye wound which needed six stitches.

Lawson appeared before Teesside Crown Court and admitted wounding Miss Cleave. He was jailed for 12 months, but only a month after his release, he resumed his torment campaign by playing loud music and banging on walls.

Only weeks earlier, Miss Cleave had spoken to The Northern Echo about the harassment, saying: "I'm scared. I don't think he will stop."

Yesterday's case was adjourned until October 11 for reports, and Lawson was released on bail.