A DISPUTE between neighbours overheated in the run up to Christmas and resulted in abuse being shouted from one flat to another.

Blackburn magistrates heard that police visiting the address for a second time one night heard Terry Casey shouting at neighbours Sabina Ali and her boyfriend Shazad Khan.

Casey, 34, now of Hope Street, Blackburn, admitted a breach of the peace and was bound over in £100 to keep the peace for six months. A charge of racially aggravated harassment, to which Casey pleaded not guilty, was dismissed.

Nick Turner, prosecuting, said Miss Ali and her boyfriend reported abuse which had got worse over a period.

Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said there had been aggravation in the other direction, but Casey accepted his behaviour was not acceptable that night.