A “bully” neighbour from hell has been convicted of harassment after they called a widow a “f****ing fatso” and reported her to the council for her garden fairy lights, a court has heard.

For six years, Paul Griffith, a sales boss, made the lives of Janine Carden, 49, and her late partner John Pratt unbearable after he allegedly subjected the couple to foul-mouth abuse on a street in Frodsham, Cheshire.

Griffith, who has been described as “short-fused”, said: “Here she comes, the f***ing fatso”, as Carden was walking home after visiting her dying mother.

He also pulled apart her flowers and reported her to their local authority over the fairy lights in her garden.

Tensions flared again when he posted a picture on social media of Pratt’s trailer with the caption: “The mess my neighbour kindly left outside my house for the past month.”

In another incident, when the couple were having a barbeque, he allegedly leaned out of his window and shouted “ooh, let's all have sausages”, before slamming it shut.

Following years of insults ever since they moved in 2017, the pair went to police and Griffith was charged with harassment, where he was later convicted at Chester Magistrates’ court.

He had to pay £1,000 in damages and was told to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation activity days as part of a 12-month community order.

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Griffith was also ordered a three-year restraining order prohibiting him from contacting Carden, who was a witness in the Manchester Arena inquiry.

Sentencing Griffith, JP Brian Bennett told him: “It seems and is apparent that you made their lives extremely difficult for no good reason whatsoever. You are, in fact, a bully but you have been caught out and punished.

“Thankfully, bullies do occasionally get their comeuppance.”

Prior to the sentencing, Carden said that Griffith made her “feel sick” and his actions made her feel “like a prisoner in my own home”.

She said: “I already felt rubbish about myself and I was lacking in confidence.

“I was frightened to go out on my own without John because of Griffith's behaviour. It just made me feel worse about myself and I was upset and very distressed.

“At one point I wanted to move as I felt like this was going to go on forever. There would be the daily thing that I would have to tell John my location and when I'm on my way home so that he could watch so that I did not have to see Griffith.

“John was looking forward to retirement. He had known for 30 years his retirement date. He was looking forward to the next chapter.”

Sadly, Pratt passed away aged 54 for undisclosed reasons before he could hear Griffith’s sentencing.

In a statement made to police before he died, Pratt said: ‘‘This has significantly affected me both emotionally and financially. I have been persistently targeted by Mr Griffith and this has been gradually increasing over time to the point where I now live in fear of violence from him.

“This negative behaviour is not something I ever thought I would have to deal with at home. I have dealt with many challenging situations in my professional life but I never thought it would occur in my personal life. Mr Griffith is unpredictable and on occasion explodes. I do not feel safe where we live.”

Griffith’s defence lawyer Catherine Higham said: “Griffith does show remorse and is able to acknowledge his part in what took place and how he should have handled things differently. It was a neighbour dispute that got out of hand and he is ashamed of his actions.”