A father-of-four falsely accused a neighbour of smashing his car windscreen with a brick.

Kevin Bick telephoned police to tell them he suspected who had done it but could not prove it.

Nine days later he made a statement wrongly blaming Tracy Walters, his neighbour in Ryeland Close, Warndon, Worcester, said Jennifer Josephs, prosecuting. The complaint followed a history of trouble between the households, Worcester Crown Court heard.

The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Recorder James Behrens warned that such cases usually ended in immediate jail sentences, but he gave Bick, who suffered from a heart condition and impaired mental capacity, an eight- month term, suspended for two years.

The car was damaged on the night of June 14 outside Bick's house. He lied to police that he had seen his neighbour, Miss Walters, outside the property shouting before bringing her arm down. She told officers she had been inside her house all night with her eight- year-old son.

Joe Kieran, defending, said Bick's dispute was "a running sore" which undermined his family.

He added: "It fermented and he became obsessed, convincing himself he had witnessed this event. He drove himself to a wrongful act."