A NEIGHBOUR from hell who was jailed after after a long-running dispute is back living underneath his victims.

David Grothier was sent to jail for ten months after admitting threatening neighbours Andrew and Irena Claridge with a 20cm kitchen knife during a fight over a CCTV camera.

He was also handed a two-month sentence for assaulting Mr Claridge.

The dad-of-three was jailed for a total of ten months at Ipswich Crown Court but was released on Friday - two weeks after being sentenced having already been on remand for almost half his sentence.

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He is banned from having any contact with Mr and Mrs Claridge.

Yesterday Mr Claridge, 53, said: “It’s odd how the law works so he is back living just below us which we find a bit difficult.

“We are disgusted he is out and everybody we talk to can’t believe he’s back out already.”

“It has been quiet since he got back. We’ve seen him but there hasn’t been a peep from him so it’s so far, so good I suppose.”

The dispute started when Mr and Mrs Claridge installed the camera pointing towards the door which leads to their flat for safety reasons but Grothier claimed it had been watching him instead.

During the fracas on September 25 last year, Grothier and Mrs Claridge, 41, argued after the 49-year-old was seen using a metal pole to damage the camera while hanging out of his bedroom window.

Before the end of the argument, Mr Claridge had stepped in to defend his wife.

The incident, in Chinook, Colchester, initially subsided but restarted as Grothier returned to the scene with the knife.

CCTV footage then showed Grothier grappling with Mr Claridge and kicking him before fleeing.

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

After a two-day trial, Judge David Goodin ordered Grothier to be cleared on a separate actual bodily harm charge. Grothier was also found not guilty by a jury of racially aggravated harassment.

He had previously admitted possessing a knife and common assault relating to the same incident.

During the trial, Mrs Claridge gave evidence from behind screens. She told the court: “We had asked him 100 times over that summer to leave us alone.”

In August, Grothier cut the cable which powered the pair’s CCTV and had to pay them £50 in compensation after admitting criminal damage in court.

He admitted criminal damage at Colchester Magistrates’ Court in September and was ordered to pay the couple £50 in compensation.

The second incident took place less than one month later.