For three years Stephen Howes and his family had been involved in a bitter dispute with his neighbour Malcolm Lycett, but the conflict turned nasty when Mr Lycett installed a "mosquito" device in his back yard to drive cats away from his fish pond.

Yet despite taking legal advice, contacting environmental health and even the police over the noise Howes could not get Mr Lycett to turn the machine off.

And the dispute turned violent when Howes turned up at his neighbour's door armed with a rubber mallet.

When Mr Lycett again refused to discuss the matter Howes attacked him, hitting him to the head and back.

Howes, who has never been in trouble before, admitted causing actual bodily harm when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court.

Glen Gatland, prosecuting, said Howes and Mr Lycett had been neighbours in Chipchase Court, New Hartley, for more than 12 years.

They fell out three years ago and the dispute got worse when Mr Lycett installed the cat scare device – which omits high-pitched signals only
cats are supposed to be able to hear.

The row escalated on March 16, when Howes claimed he took the mallet simply to ensure he got his neighbour's attention when he used it to knock on the door.

Mr Gatland said: "Mr Howes asked whether he would turn the scarer off and he refused to discuss it.

"Mr Lycett went to ring the police and the defendant followed him in saying "get off the phone".

"He describes a blow to the back of his head and a blow to his back.
"He felt dizzy and groggy and an ambulance was called."

Christopher Knox, defending, said the Howes family had been 'very upset' about the noise and are moving away from their home.

He told the court: "The idea of these devices is that they can't be heard by humans.

"They are sometimes used in the vicinity of shops to avoid the congregation of adolescents, the frequencies can be heard by adolescents but older people cannot hear it.

"The reality here is the family did suffer very real upset.

"They did originally go through a number of ways to try and solve this sensibly, they took legal advice, they went to environmental health and
they called police who were ultimately unable to assist.

"There are two sides to this unhappy episode."

Judge David Hodson sentenced Howes to a conditional discharge for two years.

He said: "It is indeed sad to see a man of your impeccable previous character and good work record having admitted an offence of assault in the crown court.

"There are very few cases where there is not another side to the story and I am sure there are two sides to this story.

"It is not for the court to go into those two sides."