Victims of a "neighbour from hell" who threatened to punch a pensioner and set fire to flats have spoken of their relief at seeing him behind bars.

John Holloway, 39, was given a 16-week sentence by Brighton magistrates on Monday for threatening neighbours in Ditchling Road, Brighton.

An eviction warrant was issued yesterday and bailiffs are to visit his flat by the end of the week to take his belongings and change the locks.

However, neighbours, still shaken from the experience of living with a man who threatened to petrol bomb their homes, said they fear his return.

Aiden Norton has been placed on medication after suffering Holloway's antics for four-and-a-half years.

He said: "I've heard people talk of neighbours from hell' but you don't realise the enormity of it until it happens to you.

"I wouldn't have wished this abuse on anybody, not even my worst enemy.

"I love it here but I'm just not sure I want to be here any more. I'm thinking of leaving because I'm a bag of nerves."

Council tenant Holloway, addicted to alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine, was served with a repossession order in February following his seven-year hate campaign.

A restraining order banned him from contacting Mr Norton and Paul Wells, another tenant in his block of flats.

Within a day of being in court he threatened Mr Wells, telling him: "You should watch your back."

He had previously vandalised the building, smashed windows and threatened to burn neighbours alive.

A pensioner who lives nearby said: "He was always threatening people.

"I've got heart trouble and lung disease so I often have to come out here for air.

"He once threatened to put me back in hospital and said he hoped I'd have another heart attack.

"He was always drunk and causing fights. He was on everything.

"I'm just glad he's gone and hope he stays gone."

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said once Holloway's possessions were in storage, repairs would be carried out to the home so the property could be re-let.

However, neighbours said they had spent years complaining to council officers only for their pleas to be ignored.

Mr Norton said: "I was told not to exaggerate, that he's just a little bit boisterous - he's threatened to burn the house down with everybody in it.

"Would they want to live with him? Of course they wouldn't.

"Their office hours finish at 5pm, we've had to live with this 24/7.

"I'm relieved that after four-and-a-half years of abuse on a daily basis, someone actually started to take us seriously, but I'm uncertain of what is to come.

"You don't know what he's going to do when he comes out."