An alcoholic neighbour from hell has been thrown out of his home after a tirade of drunken abuse against residents in a block of flats.

John Holloway, of Ditchling Road, Brighton, threatened to petrol bomb neighbours and punch an elderly woman "in the chest until her heart stops", during a seven-year hate campaign, a court heard.

But neighbours were finally rid of Holloway's drunken rages yesterday when Brighton County Court found he was in breach of an antisocial behaviour order and repossessed his home.

He was given a month to get out of his flat after Judge Anthony Simpkiss heard how Holloway had made his neighbours' lives a misery.

Holloway was unable to control himself because of a drink problem and turned up to his hearing an hour late after drinking, the court heard.

He had already served a three-month prison sentence for harassment.

However, Judge Simpkiss yesterday continued a hearing into breaches of an antisocial behaviour order after a previous adjournment in November.

The court was told how Holloway, who also suffers from mental illnesses, had threatened neighbours with a ten-inch knife and made abusive phone calls.

Simon Sinnatt, for Brighton and Hove City Council, said: "This is about as extreme a scenario as you can get.

"Mr Holloway has been making the lives of people in these flats a living hell."

Mr Sinnatt recounted witness statements of Holloway screaming at neighbours: "I'm going to burn you f****rs out and petrol bomb your homes. I hope you all burn to death."

Council officers now have the task of finding sheltered accommodation for Holloway.

Diagnosed as an alcohol and drug abuser with personality disorders, he repeatedly made outbursts in the court and was twice threatened with removal.

He was even seen making fists as the judge read out his verdict. However, Holloway, 39, claimed never to have argued with neighbours, who said they had also seen him breaking windows and threatening pensioners.

Neighbour Aidan Norton told the court how problems escalated to the point where Holloway would come into the flats screaming he was going to pour petrol over their doors and set light to them.

Living in the flat next door, Paul Wells said he had been forced to move out for long periods due to the severity of Holloway's drunken rages.

He told the court that, while trying to fix a gate he believed Holloway had broken, the neighbour from hell threatened to pour petrol over his body and set fire to him.

Though he laughed it off at the time, Mr Wells said: "I knew he meant it with every single bone and fibre of his body."

Mr Sinnatt said a psychiatric report showed that even though Holloway suffered paranoid delusions and alcohol dependency syndrome he was well aware of what he was doing.

Reading through witness statements, the Judge told the court how Holloway had told one elderly neighbour: "I'm going to punch you in the chest and stop your heart, you f****r."