A 37-year-old Nottingham man was subjected to “endless abuse” by his neighbour, leaving her so scared she couldn’t even go into her own garden. Nottingham Crown Court heard Peter Clark hurled vicious abuse at the victim and her partner, calling him the N-word despite his white skin.

The defendant, Cliftonaccused the woman of speaking against him in front of the council and, during months of verbal attacks, told her that “the next charge will be murder.” And in a victim impact statement, the woman said she “can no longer lead a normal life” because of what happened to her.

He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years. Judge Michael Auty KC said: “Peter Clark, I’m not going to lecture you and you may not agree with what I’m about to tell you but the important thing is that you haven’t continued with this for 18 months. Stay out of trouble, stay out of everything for the next two months and that will be the last you hear about it.

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“However, anyone who is stupid enough to repeat his crimes will have to wait six months, and for each new offence an additional penalty will be imposed.”

Prosecutor Stefan Fox said the defendant and the female victim became neighbours in Cliffmere Walk in September 2022 and there were initially no problems between them. But the following month, he said, things changed.

The prosecutor said: “It was practically a punch to the wall and endless abuse. On October 14th (2022) she approached her property and he was sitting on his doorstep and as she walked past him he said ‘keep walking you f***ing s***.’ On October 26th he called her and her partner T**** and then her partner (the N-word) numerous times while staring directly at her property (even though) both victims in this case are white.

“On December 22, he shouted further abusive comments, calling her partner ‘a rapist and sex offender.’ In January 2023, there were three further occasions where he verbally abused her in a vile manner, telling her: ‘If you think you can get the council to blackmail me, the next charge will be murder.'”

Mr Fox said Clark was interviewed by the police on the allegations and answered the questions put to him with “no comment”. In 2021, he was convicted after abusing a former neighbor.

The prosecutor read part of the new victim’s statement. In it, she described how afraid she was of the defendant and how she never went into her garden anymore.

The woman said: “I don’t think I can live a normal life anymore. It’s not fair to spend my life in fear.”

The defendant pleaded guilty to harassment. Will Bennett, mitigating the sentence, said: “There is a tiny glimmer of hope and the defendant is very frightened by the prospect of a prison sentence, now lives 20 minutes away and there have been no further incidents (in the last 18 months).”

In addition to the suspended sentence, the judge issued a temporary restraining order against the defendant, prohibiting him from contacting the plaintiffs or visiting their address for the next five years.