A Manchester City fan locked in a bitter feud with his next door neighbours daubed his garden fence with slogans mocking the Munich Air Disaster, after learning they were Manchester United supporters.
Michael Hatton, 63, painted '58' in reference to the 1958 crash which killed eight footballers, 'City rule OK', 'United are sh**' and 'F*** off' to provoke his ManU fan neighbours Stephen Nelson and his girlfriend Clare Kelly.
Tameside magistrates court heard self employed painter and decorator Hatton had fallen out with the couple over a wooden fence he put up between the front gardens of their properties in Hollins, near Oldham, Greater Manchester.
In another incident when the couple were accused of playing loud music late at night, Hatton who lives with his wife got out his electric drill at 5.45am the following morning and affixed 27 screws to the fence shouting: 'You are going to get this every morning you f***ing scum.'
Following complaints about damage to a wooden post, he later daubed the anti-United slogans on his side of fence so the couple could see them as they walked past.
He was also heard shouting: 'slag' and 'I hope that lady dies' when the couple had Miss Kelly's children and grandchildren to visit.
In a statement Mr Nelson whose £240,000 semi up is currently in the process of being sold said: 'Michael has caused us to live in hell for the last four years.
'We are terrified of it escalating. We have never retaliated. We desperately want to move so that we do not have to live in fear.
'He wrote offensive remarks which obviously put people off purchasing the house. We are worried about the children getting hurt. We feel that this will only end once we have moved. He is fixated on causing us issues and harassing
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