A father and son face up to five years' jail if they continue a campaign of harassment and intimidation against their neighbours.

Gordon Clarke and his 15-year-old son Aaron admitted committing antisocial acts against residents of a Crawley street when they appeared at Mid Sussex Magistrates Court yesterday following a police investigation lasting almost a year.

Residents have made a string of complaints, alleging they are the constant targets of abusive language, obscene gestures, excessive noise and intimidation.

Deputy District Judge Katherine Marshall imposed anti-social behaviour orders on the pair, saying she believed them necessary to protect the rights and freedoms of others.

Gordon Clarke, 42, of Black Dog Walk, Crawley, a progress chaser for Thermopol in Crawley, was made the subject of a four-year order.

It bans him from committing acts which could alarm or distress his neighbours and from making "persistent and intrusive" noise through the playing of loud music, repeated slamming of car and garage doors, revving of his car engine and setting off the car alarm.

A similar two-year order was imposed on Aaron but covers a wider area of Crawley.

It bans him from committing acts causing harassment, alarm or distress to the residents of the Northgate area, north of Kilnmead Road, by the directed use of foul or abusive language or obscene gestures and from making excessive noise in Black Dog Walk.

Neighbours of the Clarkes say they have suffered since the family moved to Black Dog Walk in 1985.

They say their health has suffered as a result of constant noise and harassment.

A spokesman for the residents, who asked not to be named, said he welcomed the court orders but doubted they would be effective.

He said: "I just hope the police will monitor this situation properly and will take immediate action if breaches occur.

"Living next to these people has been distressing and has ruined our quality of life. We are living on tenterhooks 24 hours a day.

"We have not been able to sit out in our gardens and we are regularly woken up in the early hours by doors banging or loud music.

"If they lived in a council house they would have been out years ago. The problem is you could never sell your house with them living next door because you have to reveal you have the neighbours from hell.

"The time it has taken for this to reach court is unacceptable. The general idea of these orders is that they're supposed to be fast-track but this has taken about a year.

"We have written to the Police Complaints Authority and to our MP but it was only when we wrote to Jack Straw that things started to happen."

The case has cost the Sussex Police between £8,000 and £10,000 but they say they are determined to send out the message anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.

Crawley Inspector Kevin Jemmitt assured residents the order would be strictly enforced.

He said: "It has taken a long time to get to this stage and a lot of resources in officer time and in money spent producing the court case and it would be silly not to enforce the order now.

"We want to show good, decent, law-abiding citizens we are serious about tackling this problem."

He shared the concern of residents about the length of time the case had taken to reach court but stressed the police had been ready to proceed for several months.

This is the second time anti-social behaviour orders have been imposed in the Crawley area but the first instance where they have targeted a household.

Mr Jemmitt said: "These orders are very rarely applied for and there are only about ten in place in the whole of Sussex.

"With the two orders made today that brings the total in Crawley to five."

The Clarke family declined to comment.