A ‘UNPREDICTABLE’ man has been jailed after he threatened to stab his neighbour and burn his house down, a court heard.

Adam Harvey, of Cambridge Court, Dalton, caused his neighbour to feel ‘constantly on edge’ as a result of his ‘prolonged and persistent’ actions, prosecutor Lee Dacre said.

The 35-year-old was sentenced at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court after becoming embroiled in an ongoing neighbour dispute between August 26 and November 10 this year.

Outlining the case, Mr Dacre said the defendant began his offending by shouting: ‘If you come out of your door, I will stab you’.  

The court heard Harvey threatened to stab the man with a knife once again shouting ‘I am going to get you’ from his bedroom on October 28.

Mr Dacre said the complainant was woken up in the night a few days later by Harvey throwing items at his bedroom window.

“When he woke up, he could hear the defendant spraying a substance outside,” the prosecution said.

“He posted a tissue with brown and orange marks through his letter box. He was implying he was going to try and set his house on fire.”

The court was told police received a 999 call on November 10 from the victim saying the defendant was banging on his windows and threatening to throw a steel deck chair into his property.

‘He makes me feel scared,’ the complainant said to officers in his victim impact statement.

‘I do not know what he’s capable of. I never know what he’s going to do next. I live in fear he is going to try and slit my throat or set my house on fire.

‘I don’t know when this nightmare will ever end. It has affected my whole life. I am fed up of this. He is so unpredictable.’

Mr Dacre said Harvey broke his bail conditions of not approaching, contacting or communicating with the man on November 13 - just three days after they were imposed.

The court heard the breach related to Harvey throwing eggs at his house.

On November 13, Harvey was sentenced after previously pleading guilty to offences of harassment – put in fear of violence, using threatening/abusive/insulting words/behaviour to cause harassment/alarm/distress and arrest by a constable for breaking bail conditions.

A probation worker outlined their findings from the pre-sentence report before mitigation took place.

They said Harvey had shown ‘no motivation to stop using amphetamine and cannabis on a daily basis’ and that there was ‘still evidence of victim blaming’ in the case.

The probation worker added that Harvey said the victim knew ‘how to push his buttons’.

Defence solicitor Michael Graham said the offences had ‘not just emerged out of the ether’.

Mr Graham said: “This is not an all-one-way situation. There is a background to the parties that has revved the situation up, but I can’t comment too much about that.

“It would be fair to say his substance misuse is an underlying feature of his offending. However, he has accepted he has an issue and has referred himself to Recovery Steps.

“His accommodation is on the line if he is sent to prison. It would present him with the risk of being homeless after his release.

“He is a vulnerable individual. I ask you to give him an opportunity.”

Magistrates deliberated for 25 minutes before eventually jailing Harvey for 26 weeks.

Before passing sentence, chair of the bench Charles Crewdson said: “You have a history of an inability to comply with orders.

"We have no confidence we can give you a community-based order or suspended sentence that you would adhere to.”

Magistrates also imposed a two-year restraining order.