A Penegoes man who carried out a campaign of harassment against his neighbour has been jailed for two years.

Barrie Wilks, 41, of 2 Craig Yr Henffordd, appeared at Swansea Crown Court after admitting four counts of breaching a restraining order and four counts of criminal damage.

The court heard how Wilks carried out a ‘vendetta’ of harassment against his neighbour, making her life ‘unbearable’.

Wilks and the complainant had been neighbours for around five years and that they initially enjoyed a "friendly relationship" but this began to deteriorate, as Wilks embarked on a ‘persistent course of harassment’, which resulted in a retraining order in December last year.

Wilks breached this order on multiple occasions in June this year, including opening a garden gate, climbing fences and making ‘menacing faces’ into a CCTV camera while carrying a hammer.

The court heard that he also nailed large corrugated metal sheets to block security cameras.

In an impact statement was read to the court by the prosecution barrister, the victim said Wilks' behaviour had made her life "unbearable"

Swansea Crown Court heard that Wilks has eight previous convictions for 17 offences including multiple criminal damages, public disorder, assaulting emerging workers, and harassment.

In 2021 he was sentenced to eight months in prison for assaulting two police officers who were trying to arrest him.

At the sentencing hearing the court was told that the former Thomas Cook flight attendant was found wearing a wig and hiding under a blanket in a shed in Penegoes, and that when officers took hold of the defendant he "erupted into violence and became extremely aggressive".

There followed a protracted struggle with Wilks repeatedly lashing out, kicking, and trying to bite the officers, and at one point he pulled a Pava spray canister from the belt of one of the officers and made a grab for a Taser stun gun. Wilks also subjected the officers to a torrent of abuse. The struggle lasted around 25 minutes before backup arrived and the defendant was subdued and placed in handcuffs and leg restrains.

Wilks' last conviction is from March this year when he was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and was ordered to pay £1,000 compensation.

In defence, Harry Dickens, said neighbour disputes unfortunately often give rise to "bad behaviour", and said the defendant realises he has to go through the "proper channels" to resolve any issues he has.

Judge Paul Thomas KC said whatever the rights and wrongs of the neighbour dispute, the simple fact was court order are there to be obeyed and the defendant has to leave his victim alone.

He said Wilks "seems determined to make her life a misery", and he said the defendant's conduct towards his neighbour could only be described as a "vendetta". The judge noted that Wilks had continued his behaviour even while on bail.

Wilks was sentenced to 22 months in prison, and the judge activated two months of the previously imposed suspended sentence to run consecutively making an overall sentence of 24 months.