'Neighbour from hell' in Spider-Man mask made lives miserable

Liam Bain made his elderly neighbours feel like "prisoners in their own homes"

A "neighbour from hell" has been jailed for ruining the lives of elderly residents in his street - including by walking past their houses in a Spider-Man mask.

Liam Bain shouted, spat at, intimidated and tormented his neighbours in the Longton area of Lancashire over a decade, police said.

One victim, an 80-year-old man, said Bain had "ruined his retirement", while another victim said they had been made a "prisoner in my own home".

Bain pleaded guilty to five counts of harassment and was sent to prison for 18 weeks at Preston Crown Court on Monday.

Liam Bain told his neighbours: "You lot can't do anything about it, I will still be here when all of you are dead”

Lancashire Police said all his victims were aged between 60 and 85 during the course of his offending.

At one stage, he told them: "You lot can't do anything about it, I will still be here when all of you are dead.”

The court had heard that Bain's bizarre behaviour included staring at one of his neighbours while flexing his muscles and "shadow-boxing".

He would walk past their houses in a balaclava or Spider-Man mask in an "intimidatory manner", and beeped at them with his horn when he drove past them.

On other occasions he harassed workmen doing work on two of his neighbour's properties, offering to fight them and challenging them to arm-wrestles.

But police said some of his behaviour was more sinister.

On one occasion, he sprayed a woman's car with a jet wash as she drove past, and when she got out of the vehicle he soaked her with water and shouted abuse.

On another occasion, he shined a laser pen at a woman while she was driving, causing her to swerve.

The force said he disrupted his neighbours' sleep by using leaf-blowers and blasting loud music from his van in the early hours of the morning.

'Agonising torment'

Recorder Kevin Slack, passing sentence, told Bain there was no other way to describe him other than "a neighbour from hell".

"You have caused the residents of these two streets untold misery without there being any cause for you to behave the way you have," the judge said.

In a statement read to the court, one of his victims described Bain's behaviour as "persistent, agonising torment", while another described themselves as an "emotional wreck".

The 80-year-old man added: "I know that when I venture from my home I will suffer intimidation and harassment each time I leave or return."

PC Jenny Fairhurst, who worked on the case, described Bain's offending as a "sinister campaign of abuse and harassment".

"It shocks me that someone can have such blatant disregard for their neighbours, especially given their ages and vulnerabilities", she added.

Bain, now of Shakespeare Road in Preston, was hit with a restraining order banning him from entering the two streets where the victims lived or contacting them in any way.