REVENGE turned out bitter for a boyfriend who torched the car of an alleged workplace bully, a court heard.

Benjamin Reibel wanted to hit out at the man he believed was responsible for a campaign of workplace harassment and bullying against his girlfriend.

Prosecutor David Garnett said the couple spotted the man's car in the Clifton Moor area of York while they were house-hunting on December 27 and he decided to strike back. Reibel took his girlfriend back home, then returned with a can of petrol and torched the Vauxhall Cavalier.

But witnesses took a note of his number plate, police tracked him down and he ended up in the dock of York Crown Court.

Reibel, 24, of Russell Street, South Bank, York, pleaded guilty to arson. He was given a 12- month prison sentence suspended for two years on condition that he does 200 hours' unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to the car owner, plus £380 prosecution costs.

"You have paid quite a high price for this foolish but dangerous act, and you had better control yourself in the future," the Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, warned him.

Reibel's barrister, Glenn Parsons, claimed his client and girlfriend had been victims of a "concerted campaign of bullying and harassment".

She had complained to her line manager at work and to her union, but the harassment had continued, and Reibel's home and car had been targeted.

"It was getting more and more out of hand," said Mr Parsons. "It was affecting his health, it was affecting her health."

When they went house-hunting on December 27 and spotted the car, Reibel was "absolutely at his wits' end," said the barrister.

He had acted on the spur of the moment and out of character when he torched the car. But now he realised that what he had done was totally wrong.

Mr Garnett said the police officer who interviewed Reibel had some sympathy for him.

The court heard the damage to the K-reg car was predominantly to its rear, but it was still written off.

The greatest risk to anyone's life would have been to Reibel himself.

He lit the petrol can and put it under the car.

Updated: 09:33 Monday, February 20, 2006