Feuding neighbour in 'disguise' stormed to man's flat armed with a knife

Bad blood and festering tensions between two neighbours in a block of flats suddenly turned nasty when a drunken grandfather grabbed a knife and angrily stormed round to the other man's home to confront him.

Binge cider drinker Martin Whittaker disguised himself in dark glasses and pulled his hood up before knocking on the door. He barged his way inside the flat and threatened the other man with the knife in a bid to teach him a lesson after the heated earlier problems between them, Hull Crown Court heard.

Whittaker, 59, of Eastgate, Goole, admitted threatening a person with a blade in a private place on October 29.

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Holly Thompson, prosecuting, said that Whittaker was living in a block of communal flats and the other man was a neighbour of his. Whittaker was seen on CCTV approaching the man's flat. He knocked on the door and tried to get inside the flat.

There was a confrontation and Whittaker was seen with a knife. He was being aggressive and he was pointing his finger and gesturing at people. He was pushed outside the flat.

As Whittaker came out of the flat, he could be seen with a knife in his left hand. He had tried to conceal his identity during the disturbance. "There was the risk of serious disorder," said Miss Thompson.

Whittaker had no previous convictions but he had a caution for assault causing actual bodily harm.

Rachel Scott, mitigating, said that Whittaker, a grandfather, came to Goole 23 years ago to find work as a construction worker and he had lived at the flats for 14 years. "There were no problems for years and years," said Miss Scott.

Two or three weeks before the incident, the neighbour had an argument with a woman in the stairwell. Whittaker intervened and told the neighbour to stop speaking to a woman like that.

The man "took exception" to this and hurled abusive names at Whittaker in the street and put a note up about it on a noticeboard, claimed Miss Scott.

Whittaker was "understandably upset" by that. He had a history of binge drinking, including downing 10 cans of cider per session, and he accepted that he had been drinking heavily that night.

"He had that amount that night," said Miss Scott. "He was heavily in drink. He behaved terribly. He lost his temper. He behaved in a way that was wholly out of character. There have been no further issues."

Whittaker claimed that he was still being "antagonised" by the man but he was not reacting to that. Whittaker was cutting down his alcohol and he had reduced it to six cans per session.

Deputy circuit judge Roger Thomas KC told Whittaker: "You have got yourself into some serious trouble here. There you were, living in some flats, where you have been living for many a long year.

"You got yourself into trouble with someone living downstairs. Quite what you thought you were achieving putting your hood up, wearing dark glasses and wearing gloves, I'm not sure.

"In some sort of warped thinking, you thought you were disguising yourself. You were knocking on this man's door." Whittaker looked "sinister" because he had a knife in his hand.

He got into the flat, where three people were inside, but he was "bundled out" again. "People who arm themselves with knives, whether in public or private, put people in danger," said the deputy circuit judge.

"There clearly is potential for further trouble. Let's hope nothing else happens thereafter. You are on a distinct warning."

Whittaker was given a 16-month suspended prison sentence and 30 days' rehabilitation.