A MAN dubbed the "ultimate nightmare neighbour" has been jailed for the fourth time after waging a 20-year campaign of terror.

Stephen Lawson - whose rap sheet includes clobbering a young mum over the head with a stair banister - was caged for 18 months for breaching a criminal behaviour order.

And locals in Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham, were so relieved they threw a street party to celebrate.

Tim Edwards, 46, who lived next door to the 59-year-old for two years, told the Mirror: “He was the ultimate nightmare neighbour. He’s ruined lives, destroyed communities.

“He could start a row in an empty room. I don’t normally have much sympathy for prisoners but I feel sorry for anyone who gets stuck with him for months on end.”

Lawson also daubed a neighbour’s windows with black paint so they could not see out.

He has made bogus 999 calls about residents, played recordings of barking dogs to irritate them and posted bizarre messages in his front window.

Neighbours say he has not had a job for years.

Lawson’s crimes date back to 1996, when he was convicted of criminal damage after police put him under surveillance while he was living in Shildon, Darlington.

Neighbours complained about him damaging their cars and officers recorded him harassing an 87-year-old widow and a housebound pensioner.

He told Sedgefield court his neighbours, who appeared as witnesses, were lying and he was the victim of a hate campaign.

In 1998 Lawson was jailed for a year for assaulting Tania Cleave, 32, with a banister spindle after moving to Darlington.

She told the Mirror: "The whole street was terrified of him. He was really scary. I still have the scar from where he hit me."

And in 1999 Lawson was convicted for a course of conduct against a female neighbour which involved verbal threats, playing loud music and banging on a party wall to cause her distress.

Lawson moved to his Durham address in 2015.

From September that year until October this year, Lawson committed a number of offences including damage to property and using threatening and abusive language, Durham Crown Court heard.

In June 2016 he was issued an indefinite criminal behaviour order (CBO) banning him from intimidating, harassing or contacting his victim.

But Lawson continued to harass his neighbour and received a suspended sentence in January 2017 for breaching the order.

Robin Turton, prosecuting, said his latest breaches were carried out in March and August. The court heard on March 16 this year Lawson posted legal documents regarding his CBO through the letterbox of his next-door victim.