An 87-year-old man smashed his neighbour's car and attacked them with a garden hoe over a bin dispute, a court has heard.
Edward Burgess, 87, of Martland Road, Liverpool, appeared at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to be sentenced for one count of common assault and another of criminal damage. Andrew Page, prosecuting, detailed that on September 10 last year, a dispute broke out between Burgess and Philip Brittles, over where Mr Brittles placed his bins.
Burgess knocked at Mr Brittles’ front door, shouting about him leaving bins on the path outsid his home, stating “if you do it again I’ll bring them back up here and do you in.” Mr Brittle closed his gate as Burgess walked away from his front door, but the pensioner then threw a punch over the gate, which Mr Brittle says connected with his face.
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The 87-year-old then walked away, and said: “Let me go and get my metal bar and I’ll do you in.” Mr Brittle’s son called the police, but before they arrived, Mr Brittle heard the sound of glass smashing and found Burgess using a white garden hoe to “manically” smash his wife’s car.
Mr Brittle shouted for him to stop, and Burgess then swung the hoe at him, causing injury to his back and chest, before members of the Brittle family managed to disarm him. PC Squire arrived at the scene and cautioned and arrested Burgess, who was then interviewed the same day with a solicitor.
He gave his version of events, and said he went to Mr Brittles house to discuss bin issues before things became heated and claimed the victim had headbutted him. Burgess agreed he returned to smash the car but denied assault as Mr Brittle’s family had taken the weapon off him.
The pensioner pleaded guilty to the criminal damage charge, but denied assault and was convicted after trial on January 9, 2023. In a victim impact statement, read by the prosecution and written by Mr Brittle, he said: “We are dreading what will be next having seen what Mr Burgess is capable of, that is the damage to my car.”
Burgess has several previous convictions for similar offences including in 2021, where he was convicted of causing damage and of having an article with intention to cause damage, and common assault and harassment. The 87-year-old, who represented himself, did not accept the prosecution’s case during his sentencing hearing, and repeatedly pointed at Mr and Mrs Burgess who sat at the back of the court.
He said: “There’s a lot of difference between that version and my version, can I explain my version? “I don’t do it on a whim, I was provoked by them two.”
When asked about a restraining order, he said: “I wish they would keep away from my house with their rubbish.” While the magistrates bench were retired to deliberate, Burgess called the victims a “pair of c***s” across the room, and briefly mentioned a dispute he had with a different neighbour.
He was sentenced to a 12 month community order, and ordered to complete 10 rehabilitation days and to pay an £80 fine. Burgess was also ordered to pay the £345 costs to repair the Brittle family car, and £100 in compensation to his neighbour.
A restraining order barring Burgess from contacting any of the Brittle family or entering their property was also implemented for three years. After sentencing, Burgess said: “She is going to deliberately do it, she is the trouble maker.
“They are going to set me up, they are the ones who provoked the trouble.”
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