A man ended up in court after a parking row with a neighbour got out of hand. Matthew Fox left Bruce and Lynn High terrified when he tried to violently smash his way through their front door in the early hours of the morning while drunk, a court heard.
As he tried to smash his way in on July 3 last year, he was heard shouting "I'm going to kill you" and saying to Mr High's son "tell your dad I'm going to kill him". The court was told that they had been neighbours for some time, but didn't know each other well.
Prosecuting, Philip Holden explained that Fox, 31, worked as a mobile mechanic and would regularly park his work van outside the High's home, reports Lancs Live. The problems began when they decided to put their home up for sale.
They asked Fox if he would mind parking elsewhere to avoid putting off potential buyers. The court was told that he did so at first, but after a few days returned to parking the van outside.
At 6.30pm on July 2, Mr High went to Fox's house to ask again. He knocked at the door, but received no answer.
During the subsequent evening, Fox went out and reached a level of drunkenness he described to police as being at an eight on a scale of one to 10. When he returned home he went to his van and brought out a sledgehammer and a smaller hammer.
Mr Holden said: "He took them to the house and he battered the front door with a view to getting access to the house. When he was smashing the door down he was shouting at them 'I'm going to kill you, open the door, I'm going to kill you'. Then addressing Mr High's son, 'tell your dad I'm going to kill him'."
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The spectacle continued for around 15 to 20 minutes, during which time Mrs High made a frightened call to 999. Police attended and arrested Fox, who admitted what he had done in a police interview and said he was "drunk and mad".
In victim impact statements, the Highs discussed how the incident had left them scared and unable to sleep, while Mrs High said she had suffered nightmares for six months and that she feared hearing any noise at the door of their home in Chatburn, Clitheroe. The couple have since spent more than £1,000 on cameras and a security system.
Sentencing at Preston Crown Court, Judge Simon Medland KC said the High family could bear no blame in how they had behaved and that what happened when he "bashed" the door down was "quite terrifying". He added that what happened was out of character for Fox. Fox, of Ribblesdale View, was given an eight month sentence suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £3,000 in compensation.
