Man's balaclava ban

A neighbour from hell has been banned from wearing a balaclava for the next ten years after he failed in his attempts to have his strict antisocial behaviour order reduced.

Music teacher Dominic McGrath, 58, was hit with the ten-year order in April after terrorising neighbours in his street of Melville Drive, Wickford, with anything from threatening them with a baseball bat to singing theme tunes.

McGrath had appealed to have it shortened and to have certain restrictions lifted, such as a condition which banned him from parking in his own street.



But the judge at Basildon Crown Court rejected most of his application, and after hearing about McGrath's antics, decided to add yet another condition to his order which bans him from wearing a balaclava in his street of Melville Drive, Wickford.

His antics included singing songs, such as Who Let the Dogs Out, to certain neighbours; waving toilet rolls at residents as they left their homes; threatening one neighbour with a baseball bat; walking around in combat gear with and even buying a second car to park on the street to annoy others.

Under the original Asbo, McGrath was banned from communicating with his neighbours, singing or humming derisory tunes to them, making unnecessary noise and displaying toilet rolls.