A gay man has admitted he gave his lesbian neighbours curry laced with slug pellets after he was accused of kidnapping their three-legged cat.

According to the Daily Mail, Gary Stewart, 37, and Beverley Sales and Marie Walton had enjoyed cordial relations when they first became neighbours in Denton, Manchester. Over a period of years, though, things turned sour, leading Stewart to wage an "apparent hate campaign" against the couple.

He even allegedly "kidnapped" the pair's three-legged cat, Amber, and "dumped her in a village miles away". Amber was eventually recovered following a poster campaign.

On 22 September Stewart appeared to offer an olive branch in the form of curry, claiming he'd over-ordered from the takeaway. When Sales and Walton tucked in, they found the food laced with slug pellets. They called in the cops and Stewart was arrested.

He subsequently appeared before magistrates in Manchester where he "admitted attempting to poison the two women". He will appear again before the court at a later date.

An unnamed neighbour said: "It has been nothing short of a nightmare and I hope this brings things to an end, because what those two girls have had to endure these past years has been horrendous.

"He was abusive to them and made their lives a misery. And to cap it off, he kidnapped their cat and dumped it on the streets."

The Daily Mail helpfully notes that slug pellets contain metaldehyde, which is "extremely dangerous to animals and children", but classed as merely "moderately hazardous" by the World Health Organisation and not normally fatal to an adult. ®