A MAN told his Ukrainian neighbour “go back to your country, you foreigner” during a violent dispute over CCTV cameras, a court heard.

A jury heard David Grothier sparked the incident by leaning out of his bedroom window and using a long metal pole to damage a camera, even though it did not look into his property.

When Irena Claridge confronted the 49-year-old outside the homes, in Chinook, Colchester, Ipswich Crown Court heard he became aggressive and warned her: “Go back to your country. Go back to where you came from.”

When Mrs Claridge’s husband, Andrew, came to help, Grothier produced a knife, said Marcus Croskell, prosecuting.

The pair attempted to pin Grothier inside his bedroom window, but Mr Claridge suffered a deep cut to his hand during the melee. which required hospital treatment.

Mr Croskell told the jury the incident initially subsided, but he said that within minutes Grothier returned to the scene holding one hand behind his back with a 20cm black-handled knife.

The incident quickly resumed and CCTV shows Mr Claridge and Grothier grapple before Grothier leaves the scene.

The couple, who have lived the flat for about ten years, then called police and Grothier, who moved in about eight months before the alleged incident, was arrested and questioned.

Mrs Claridge said: “I was about to start cooking so I went to the bathroom, where we keep some of the pans, and I saw movement outside.

“There was a big, long metal pole, so I went to see the monitors and it was clearly our neighbour.

“I could see his face and shoulders and he was clearly using the pole to move or damage the camera.”

As the incident unfolded, Mrs Claridge said she screamed at Grothier: “Leave us alone! Leave our family alone!”

She added: “He told me to go back to my country. He called me a foreigner. He told me to go back to where I came from.

“I was offended. I have been in England many years. I came here to work and didn’t deserve to be treated like this.”

“We had asked him 100 times over that summer to leave us alone.”

Mr Claridge said he ran downstairs from the couple’s first-floor flat when he heard his wife shouting.

He added: “I swiped at him because I didn’t know what he had in his hand.

“It looked like something shiny. It looked like a knife to me - it couldn’t be anything else. She was saying: ‘Leave us alone! Leave us alone!”

Edward Duncan-Smith, defending, accused Mr and Mrs Claridge of falsely claiming Grothier had a knife during the opening part of the incident.

The jury was told Grothier has admitted possessing a knife in relation to the second part of the incident. He has also admitted battery, after kicking Mr Claridge during the fight, on September 25 last year.

Mr Duncan-Smith also said the CCTV had shown Mr Claridge to be “like a raging bull”. Mr Claridge responded: “Why wouldn’t I protect my wife? She has worked hard over here and she shouldn’t have to put up with this.”

Grothier denies racially aggravated harassment by using threatening and abusive behaviour and actual bodily harm.

  •  The trial continues.