WARRING neighbours confronted each other in the street in a dispute involving a toilet, midnight photographs and a woman in a dressing gown.

The peace of Haxby Road was shattered when the lid of a toilet cistern crashed through David Beckelley's downstairs window shortly after midnight, York magistrates were told.

He started taking photographs of the rest of the toilet in a skip outside the home of neighbour Stephen John Rose.

When he continued taking photographs of Rose's house, his neighbour accused him of taking a picture of his wife, tried to grab Mr Beckelley's camera and damaged it.

It ended with the police arriving for the second time that night.

Rose, 35, admitted causing criminal damage and was ordered to pay £82.92 compensation to his neighbour and £70 court costs.

Prosecutor Mike Duffy said when Mr Beckelley returned home just after midnight on October 17, Rose was in his own front garden.

Ten minutes later, Mr Beckelley heard a smash as the cistern lid crashed through his front room window.

Police tried to defuse the situation, but after the police left, Mr Beckelley took photos of the skip containing the rest of the toilet and the Roses' house, possibly for future court action.

Rose came out of his house and Mr Beckelley walked off. Rose then grabbed the camera, said Mr Duffy, causing damage to the lens section worth £82.92.

He later told police he thought the camera had been damaged when it fell to the ground.

Mitigating, barrister Diane Campbell said it was a neighbours' dispute that perhaps had got out of hand. Rose had overreacted to Mr Beckelley taking photographs, but he had not deliberately damaged the camera.

During the photo-taking, Rose's wife was standing in her dressing gown in their front room bay window and he had objected to her being photographed.

There was no evidence that Rose had thrown the toilet part, and Mr Beckelley was not himself clear of moral blame.

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