A Bristol neighbour from hell has narrowly avoided prison after being found guilty of assaulting his next-door neighbour and smashing his car's windscreen with a breeze block.

Brian Williams previously served a suspended sentence in 2006 for assaulting Christopher Hucker, who lives next door to him on Fulford Road in Hartcliffe.

On January 17, Williams once again assaulted Mr Hucker after dragging him out of his car. He also snapped Mr Hucker's keys in the ignition and then threw them at him.

On March 20, two days after being charged with these offences and while still on bail, he smashed Mr Hucker's car windscreen.

At a trial in July, Williams, 46, pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal damage and one charge of assault.

He was sentenced at Bristol Magistrates' Court yesterday, where he received a six-month sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to pay £150 compensation to Mr Hucker and £450 in court costs.

He will also be electronically tagged and subject to a three-month curfew between 6pm and 6am.

In bizarre scenes in court, Williams ranted from the witness box about a conspiracy against him and criticised magistrates for not sending him to prison.

Kelly Marshall, prosecuting, told the court that on January 17, Mr Hucker was sitting in his car outside his house on Fulford Road when Williams approached, opened the driver's door and attacked him, dragging him out of the car and leaving him with bruises to his forehead as well as cuts to his cheek and leg.

During his initial police interview after he was arrested, Ms Marshall said that Williams told police that Mr Hucker was a "psychopath who sends him telepathic messages".

Richard Nile, defending, said that his client refused to undergo psychiatric tests himself, and insisted that his next-door neighbour was carrying out a "telepathic vendetta" against him.

Mr Hucker, 46, a road sweeper, was not in court to hear yesterday's verdict, but at his home yesterday, he said that Williams was a "neighbour from hell".

Mr Hucker said: "I put up a gate and a fence around my front door because of him. I felt that I had to protect myself. The rest of this road is all right, it's just him.

"I get used to it and try to stay away from him now, but he is definitely a neighbour from hell. We never got on. About eight years ago he thought I was always staring at him and I think the troubles started then."