A council tenant branded a "neighbour from hell" has been jailed for breaching a harassment restraining order.

John Holloway, 39, was given a 16-week sentence by Brighton magistrates yesterday for threatening neighbour Paul Wells, 40, at the block of flats in Ditchling Road, Brighton.

In February Holloway, addicted to alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine, was served an eviction notice after a seven-year reign of terror in which he vandalised other people's flats, smashed windows, and attracted aggressive drug users and troublemakers to the property.

The restraining order forbade him to contact blacksmith Mr Wells and another tenant. But on February 2, Mr Wells told the court yesterday, Holloway watched him going out to his van. "He turned to me and said 'What the f*** are you looking at?'

I ignored him but he said 'You should watch your f***ing back'. I went inside and called the police.

"He had just been in court about his eviction and I believe he was saying he would attack me."

Today, Brighton and Hove City Council was seeking a warrant to evict Holloway from the flats.