A JUDGE branded a Southampton pensioner as extremely eccentric and a nuisance to his neighbours and said only his age and his mental state had saved him from prison.

Bill Sandey, 80, frequently clashed with Judge Christopher Leigh QC during a case at the city crown court.

The inventor was appealing against a conviction for harrassment.

The former RAF sergeant had displayed a large notice on a gate outside his Bitterne Park home denouncing neighbours as well as local and national politicians. He "named and shamed" them as "racist, luddites and anti-Christ."

Following complaints, Sandey was warned by the police to remove the notice or face prosecution.

Prosecutor Rachael Robertson said that when police returned to his property in Newtown Road some three weeks later, the sign was still there.

Former neighbour Satvinder Sroa said the notice left him feeling "embarrassed, angry and distressed".

Jane Busson, a neighbour for eight years, said she had not noticed the sign until her sister saw it. "I didn't think it would be that big but it was quite large. It was more upsetting because it named my daughter, who was just 13."

Sandey claimed he was the one being harassed and imprisoned because Mr Sroa and the police had brought charges against him and Mr Busson had allowed his cars to be used as cover for missile attacks on his establishment.

"All of them have conspired together to destroy my establishment," he claimed.

During the hearing he also said he had been racially attacked because he was a Cornishman.

Sandey told the court: "All I am trying to prove is that no offence has been committed" but admitted he had put up the sign.

After the appeal was dismissed, it was revealed that Sandey had been convicted in November 1999 of assaulting Mrs Busson by punching her in the face and putting her in a headlock.

The judge - who sat with two magistrates - said if it was not for the fact he was 80 and extremely eccentric, Sandey would have received a short prison sentence instead of the 12-month conditional discharge which the magistrates had imposed.

"This is what this offence deserves because you are a perfect nuisance and a very distressing person to live next to. If you commit this offence again, the court will have to take a very serious view."

Sandey, of Newton Road, was ordered to pay £147 costs.