A 45-year-old Douglas man has been jailed after he brandished knives at a ’noisy neighbour’ after a long-running row escalated.

James Brent Druggan Fitzgerald, formerly of Woodville Terrace, waved seven kitchen knives at his neighbour outside his flat after complaining of noise.

He was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of affray and was also ordered to pay £125 prosecution costs.

The court heard that Fitzgerald had already spent five weeks on remand so he will be released shortly.

We previously reported how the long-running dispute had come to a head when police were called to the Woodville Terrace flats on July 14 at 11.22pm after a report of a neighbourhood row.

The neighbour told police that Fitzgerald had waved the kitchen knives at him outside his flat window, made a throat-slitting gesture and said: ’I will get you one day’.

The neighbour took a photo of Fitzgerald brandishing the seven kitchen knives outside his flat which he showed to police.

During a police interview Fitzgerald refused to say much but claimed that the police were corrupt and that the interview room was bugged.

He told police: ’Just take me outside, handcuff me to a pole and I’ll tell you everything.’

When shown the photo of himself brandishing the knives he made no comment.

Fitzgerald entered a basis of plea in court in which he admitted waving the knives around but denied making any throat-slitting gestures, saying that his motions had been misconstrued.

He also said that the comment he had made to the neighbour was: ’I will get to speak to you one day’, rather than ’I will get you one day’.

Defending Fitzgerald in court his advocate Louise Cooil said: ’He doesn’t seek to place blame on the complainant, however he had been almost overwhelmed by stress the matter was having on his life. There was constant noise. He had suffered for approximately 12 months.

He asked his landlord if he could move or if the complainant could move. After a further six months Mr Fitzgerald had taken to consuming more alcohol than usual and he was missing work. He lost perspective and got to the point where he completely snapped.’

Ms Cooil went on to say that her client had not been in court for several years.

’He is not a violent man by nature,’ said the advocate, ’It was something out of character. He has since taken steps to find somewhere else to live.’

Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said: ’The probation report says it was a one-off incident and you snapped.

’I accept that is the most likely cause but it doesn’t excuse your behaviour.’