A disgruntled pensioner repeatedly cut his neighbour’s telephone wire after it was strung through his garden, a court heard.
David Haslewood snipped the cable cutting his neighbour off after BT moved the wire so that it crossed the boundary of his house and was viewable from his window.
The 73-year-old was ordered to pay £480 in compensation to cover the costs of the BT call outs after slicing the cable on two separate occasions, disrupting his neighbour’s personal and professional life during the two year dispute in Curzon Park South.
The pensioner, who described himself as ‘very poor’ despite his monthly pension of over £2,000, claimed he tried to involve the Ombudsman and Cheshire West and Chester Council to get them to move the wire back to its original position but to no avail.
Haslewood, who represented himself during a hearing at Chester Magistrates Court on Monday, December 8, said: “Because I was aggrieved and because they are abusing their power, deliberately abusing their power, I cut the line”.
The pensioner, who said he hadn’t spoken to his neighbour about the issue, confessed to police on his doorstep as they conducted house to house enquiries after the neighbour returned home from a family holiday on August 29 this year to find the line had been cut for a second time.
“He said that in November 2012 BT moved the phone line from its previous position to a position which directly crosses his garden and is viewable from his window,” said Rob Youds prosecuting.
“It is not viewable from [the other property].”
Haslewood, who first cut the line on January, 2 2013 and has no criminal record, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal damage.
He was also ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £20 victim surcharge.
