A pensioner has been convicted of criminal damage after he stored almost two months worth of his own faeces and then sprayed it through his former friend's letterbox.

Geoffrey Holroyd-Doveton, 75, was given a suspended prison sentence after the incident, which was a calculated attack against his neighbour, with whom he was engaged in a long-term feud.

Holroyd-Doveton had fallen out with his former friend, Donald Wicks, during the former's divorce from his wife in 2016, reports the Mirror.

Wicks, who lives several hours' drive away from Holroyd-Doveton in Braintree, Essex, was away on holiday for New Year with his husband when his home was attacked.

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Mr Holroyd-Doveton had stored six to eight weeks' worth of effluent in a container in his home and then constructed a pump so that he could spray it through the letterbox of the Wicks household.

Credit: PA

"It would seem that the defendant defecated into a container and kept that for six to eight weeks," said the prosecuting lawyer, Lesla Small.

"He had constructed a home-made pump and used that pump through the letterbox.

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"Using that pump he has pushed the excrement through the letterbox causing that to splatter over the hallway, up the stairs and onto the back wall."

Mr Holroyd-Doveton, who caused £4,000 worth of damage, was spotted on CCTV on the night of the incident and later arrested.

In court, Mr Wicks said: "It immediately caused me to feel very anxious and unable to sleep due to the stress.

"I felt my personal space, our home, had been invaded."



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Mr Holroyd-Doveton claimed that his former friend Wicks had 'ruined his life' and was responsible for the end of his marriage.



Speaking in mitigation, Mr Holroyd-Doveton's lawyer Emily Hughes told the judge that her client, who had been forced to leave Braintree as a result of his divorce, was 'incredibly sorry for his actions' and felt isolated and depressed by the breakup with his wife.