A MAN stole two TVs and speakers from his next door neighbour when a dispute got out of hand, York Crown Court heard.

Dale Joseph Waddington, 31, called out “You are a ...... idiot, you left your back door unlocked” as he stole the items in Windsor Drive, Wigginton, said Mehran Nassiri, prosecuting.

He had kicked his neighbour's front door four times and while his neighbour watched from his bedroom got ladders from his van and tried to climb in through a front window. Then the neighbour heard him calling out from downstairs.

Police caught Waddington, a floor technician, climbing back over the fence between the two houses and found one of the stolen televisions in a garden and the other stolen items in his garage.

He told officers his neighbour had damaged his van, something the neighbour denies.

For Waddington, Damian Nolan said he had now sold his house and was about to move.

“That I am sure is the best for all concerned,” said the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC. “I am satisfied this offence was out of character so far as you are concerned. I am satisfied also it was against the backdrop of neighbourly trouble between the two families.”

Waddington pleaded guilty to burglary. He had no previous convictions. He was ordered to do 150 hours’ unpaid work.

York Press:

Mr Nolan did not give mitigation after a probation officer told the court she assessed Waddington as being a low risk of reoffending and that he had shown genuine remorse. Waddington made claims to the probation officer about the neighbour’s behaviour.

Mr Nassiri said the stolen items had been returned undamaged to their owner.

The incident began at 10am on January 15 when Waddington’s wife banged on the neighbour’s door to warn him of her husband’s arrival. Waddington then drove his van onto the neighbour’s driveway and the neighbour dialled 101 to get the police, said Mr Nassiri.

Mr Nolan said Waddington did not threaten the neighbour in any way.