Neighbour warned over noise attack

Gerard Mooney, 53, said he lost three driving jobs because pounding music from the flat below deprived him of sleep.

Livingston Sheriff Court was told that his downstairs neighbour repeatedly slammed doors so hard that pictures fell off his living room wall.

And despite laying extra carpets, he could hear every word of the shouting and swearing from below.

When he politely asked his neighbours to turn the noise down, they shouted back: “Shut up, you old alcoholic.”

Mooney stormed downstairs, grabbed Archibald Paterson by the shirt and struck him on the back of the head.

Mooney, of Addiewell, West Lothian, appeared for sentence yesterday after being ordered to stay out of trouble for six months. He earlier pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Paterson on September 9 last year.

Prosecutor Deborah Demick confirmed he had not come to the attention of the police since his last appearance in October.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Graeme Fleming told Mooney: “In the circumstances, I’ll let you off with a warning.”