A LYDNEY man who robbed a neighbour has been jailed for three years and barred from going back to the street where he lived for five.

Michael Hall was found guilty by a majority verdict at Gloucester Crown Court on Monday (March 18) of robbing his neighbour of his phone and tobacco and criminal damage to a table on June 25 last year.

Judge Rupert Lowe sentenced him to three years and imposed a  five year restraining order banning Hall from contacting his victim by any means and prohibiting him from entering Wintour Road. He told the 29-year-old : “If you go robbing your neighbours, you can expect to be prevented from entering the road where you lived."

Prosecutor Mandla Ndlovu told the jury that on June 24 Hall had a few beers at his neighbour’s house.

The victim woke up in the early hours to Hall demanding money, gesticulating with a hammer.

He then spotted the phone and tobacco pouch and walked out with them.

The victim then walked into Lydney town centre to call the police and Hall was subsequently arrested at his home address and charged. Hall told the jury he was shocked when he was told about the allegations that had been put to him. He maintained he did not rob his neighbour of the phone or tobacco and nor did he demand his bank card from him.

After the jury's verdicts, Charlotte Evans, defending said: “The incident was very short-lived and had little in the way of planning. The damage was limited to the table. “Hall does have mental health issues, which is a contributory factor for his behaviour.

“This incident was largely out of character for him.”

“He is a landscape gardener by trade and has kept out of trouble for a long time and I therefore believe that any sentence could be suspended.”

Ms Evans said his mother is ill and is unable to travel and Hall has to get three buses to visit her.

The judge said because of the length of the sentence, it could not be suspended.

Judge Lowe told Hall: “I accept you have mental health difficulties and a history of drug abuse. But as of June last year you were a neighbour to your victim. You befriended him, but in my opinion it was a ‘one way relationship’ as you always wanted something, money, food, tobacco and the like. “This was an unbalanced arrangement, which broke down on June 25, 2023 when you woke him up, threatening him with a hammer. When he said no, you smashed the glass table, stating you were serious and you were not joking. “That was intended to scare him. You continued menacing him before you took his phone and tobacco and left. He reported the incident to the police by walking into Lydney and finding a phone box in the town. “There is no reason for (him) to make this effort if the incident hadn’t happen. He was telling the truth.”