A YORK man has been found guilty of being threatening and abusive to a woman police telephone operator and harassing a council worker.

Sean Schofield, 40, from The Groves, made an abusive phone call to North Yorkshire Police switchboard operator Carole Monk and made a harassing phone call to City of York Council worker Paul Johnson on November 6 last year, leaving him "shaky".

Paul Johnson, who works for the council's environmental protection unit, gave evidence from behind a screen at York Magistrates Court yesterday because he feared he and his wife may suffer reprisals from Schofield.

The court heard how Schofield called Mr Johnson, accusing the council of spying on him, and became angry and agitated before Mr Johnson told him he was hanging up.

Schofield, of Del Pyke, called back hours later and this time Mr Johnson felt threatened by what he said.

Mr Johnson said: "He said he was going to get a vigilante group together from Stockport the likes of which York had never seen to sort out me, the council and the police.

"It frightened me a bit to be honest, because I was aware that he'd been prosecuted before, which worried me that he might be inclined to take things a step further if he felt it necessary."

He told the court he made a log of the calls and recorded what Schofield had said.

The court heard from Carole Monk, who answered Schofield's call to the police on the same day.

Schofield pleaded not guilty to both offences and conducted his own defence.

In cross-examination he asked Mrs Monk why she felt threatened by his call. She said: "I felt threatened because of your tone of voice, the way the conversation escalated, and the way threats were made."

A tape recording of their conversation was played in to court in which Schofield said he didn't want to have to "unleash half of Manchester" and teach the police in York a lesson.

Schofield chose not to give any evidence in his own defence, saying he did not think there was a case to answer.

Magistrates found Schofield guilty of both charges and adjourned the case to August 12 for reports before they decide a sentence. He was granted conditional bail.

The court heard Schofield had previous convictions for criminal damage and assaulting a police officer in September 2003.

Updated: 10:36 Tuesday, July 13, 2004