A 59-year-old man who “has firm and fixed views about what is right and wrong” has been convicted of harassing his female neighbour.

John Wood, from Lower Celtic Park, Enniskillen denied harassing the woman on dates between March 6 and August 17, 2013 when he appeared at Fermanagh Court on Monday.

However, District Judge Nigel Broderick convicted him of the charge and adjourned sentencing until July 7 to await a probation report.

The Court heard that Wood saw himself as “the most senior member” of Lower Celtic Park, Enniskillen. Wood told District Judge Nigel Broderick that he had told the woman he would “forgive” her for erecting a fence, adding: “In Celtic Park we try to resolve things without going to court.” However District Judge Broderick said that Wood “has taken on more than is his responsibility.” Giving evidence, the injured party said that she moved into her new home on March 6, 2013. As she unpacked boxes and moved in, Wood was in his garden and “he seemed friendly”. She told the court: “Then he started to tell me stories and he said he had an email from someone asking him for a date and they were 67 yards away.” The injured party continued; “I said: ‘Well you’re not getting any emails from me.’ I was completely un-nerved by that kind of conversation. I just want to live in quietness and peace and want to be left alone.” She said that when she erected a fence, Wood “came and broke down the fence”, adding, “he then came and asked if I had the deeds to my property.” When workmen arrived to fix the fence, Wood photographed them and her friends who were at her house, she said. The court heard that Wood told her he would put the photos in the Impartial Reporter, calling her “the neighbour from hell” and telling people that she does this wherever she goes. She went upstairs and videoed him, later handing that video to police when she made a statement.

The injured party told the court that she received a solicitor’s letter asking her for money to make repairs to the fence and she replied through her solicitor. She then received a letter directly from Wood. “I was astounded by that letter and I was frightened because it seemed bizarre,” she said.

About one month after receiving the letter Wood allegedly approached her door late at night with a flash light. “I was very unsettled so I rang a friend and told them what he was doing,” she said.

She “reached breaking point” in August when Wood again photographed her as she was painting a wall.

She told District Judge Broderick: “I can’t tell you the stress I have been put through. I came to live in Lower Celtic Park. I had no idea, nor was I warned about anybody giving trouble, or I certainly would not have purchased the property.” She agreed with defence solicitor Julie Cooper that she had initially welcomed Wood’s offer to prune her hedges. She denied Miss Cooper’s assertion that she had annoyed Wood by videoing him. Miss Cooper stated that Wood had been taking photos of the fence and not of the woman.

Wood said he has lived alone for 20 years, “since my dear mother died.” He said: “I was raised right and I do acts of kindness. I felt that it had fallen on me to welcome people to the park.” He said he told the injured party “you have a friend next door and if you’re ever worried about your shrubs I will come over and prune them.” He told the court that on one occasion, the woman took him into her home to show him some changes she had made. When he was leaving he told her that he puts his faith in Jesus Christ. “From that point in time things began to deteriorate,” Wood said.

He claimed that the woman got a bird box with a notice on it reading: ‘All mine.’ He said he decided to take a photo “to show the folks in the charity.” When the fence was erected, he believed it was damaging a wall that had been built by his parents, adding: “I remember my mother carrying bricks in a wheelbarrow to build that wall.” He called three contractors, all of whom, he claims, told him that the fence was poorly erected.

“I asked my solicitor for advice and my aunt who runs the charity that my mother and I started,” he said. Instead of “to-ing and fro-ing with solicitor’s letters” he said he “would take the gentle way with this lady.” He told the Court: “I said: ‘If you take the posts down I will do something for you; I will forgive you’ … There’s an old saying: ‘To be a friend, you have to be a friend.’” He said he “never” discussed his love life with the woman, adding: “Why would I want to discuss my love life to someone who has done damage to my property and has caused offence to my charity?” He added that under advice from his aunt, he sent the charity’s laptop to Lisburn for scrutiny and no emails mentioning dating were found.

District Judge Broderick said it was “of note” that police had served a PIN notice (i.e. an harassment warning notice) in July. He concluded that Wood’s “actions go well beyond the remit of a concerned neighbour.” He said he “fully understands” the injured party, whose evidence he found to be “credible and reliable”.

Judge Broderick stated: “The defendant may believe that his actions were benign and well intentioned, but any person with a sense of morals would not have followed this course of conduct.” He said he would benefit from a probation report in four weeks as “the defendant has firm and fixed views about what he feels is right and wrong.”