A former firefighter has been found guilty of harassing his next door neighbour with a garden strimmer and loud chanting'.

Brian Pemberton, 47, denied harassing his neighbour Kathryn McKay in Ridgewood Close, Baildon, between June 23 and July 13, 2006, when he appeared at Bingley magistrates yesterday.

The court heard Mr Pemberton had woken his neighbour at 7am over two consecutive weekends by deliberately standing with a garden strimmer in his garden beneath her bedroom window and that he had repeatedly played loud football chanting throughout the same days which coincided with the World Cup.

Mrs McKay said she was left feeling "uncomfortable" when her neighbour turned up at her local gym, where she had been a member for about 18 months.

She said: "I just felt uncomfortable being there then because A: he knew I was there and B: if he knew I was there he knew my daughter was alone at home.

"It was like a violation of my right to enjoy my own property and my own pursuits without fear of intimidation and abuse.

"It meant things that I would enjoy doing like going to the gym, suddenly I was not going to be able to do any more. Going to the gym was my sanctuary. It was my way of getting away from this."

Mr Pemberton claimed he had visited the gym to see if some free VIP tickets were valid for him and his wife to use at weekends and he denied seeing his neighbour there.

He said he started strimming his garden at 8am not 7am because he suffered from chronic hay fever and he was tidying up his garden ahead of any potential viewings as he was trying to sell his house at the time.

The dad-of-two claimed he was looking up at his daughter's bedroom which is close to his neighbour's in the terraced homes.

He added: "I cannot say I had played any specific chanting other than the recordings that had been on the television."

The court heard how the neighbours, who moved into their respective homes in 1988 are involved in a "neighbour dispute that does not seem to have any resolution."

Defending Pemberton, Nigel Hamilton said: "It's a neighbour dispute that's been blown out of all proportion."

Sentencing was adjourned until June 12 for pre-sentence reports.

Speaking after the hearing Mrs McKay, 52, said she was delighted with the verdict.

"When he turned up at the gym I was distraught because that was where I went to get away from him," she said.

"I have tried to put my house on the market. It's not any more because I can't sell it. I got some offers and when it got to the point of disclosure they walked away.

"I am a lot stronger then I was. There were times in the past when we had to leave the house. We could not take any more and we went to stay with my mum in a two-bedroom retirement flat."