IT was the culmination of years of petty warring between neighbours.

The over-the-fence fall outs finally turned nasty when grandmother Bronwyn Hotchkiss came face-to-face with Teresa King - and suffered a bang on the head after King jabbed the fence with a broom handle.

An ongoing dispute about a fence panel came to a head last month when Steve Dyke's mother, Mrs Hotchkiss, was injured as she tried to stand up a section of trellis King had pushed over.

Video camera The entire incident was caught on a video camera the Dykes had set up the night before.

Unemployed King, a former debt advisor who earlier this year won a case of unfair dismissal against the Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB), pleaded guilty to assault by beating when she appeared at New Forest Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Only four months ago, mother-of-three King was awarded £18,068 at an employment tribunal after she was sacked from her job at Lymington CAB.

Her bosses said she breached client confidentiality when she called a GP after one of her clients told her she had taken an overdose because she could not cope with crippling debt.

But this week, King, 58, was in the dock for her actions on August 23 at her home in Edward Road, Hythe.

Prosecutor David Fosler said: "The defendant used a brush handle to push down a section of fence she believed was damaging her trellis. Mrs Hotchkiss went to put it back up and was hit on the forehead.

"She suffered swelling from the blow, but it's the psychological effect of this that has caused the most problems - disagreements have been going on for years."

Roger Peach, defending, said the New Forest Mediation Service has been called in to attempt to settle the dispute and that both King and the Dykes are trying to sell their houses in Hythe.

He added: "My client is in quite bad health. She may well suffer from Cushing's syndrome, a condition affecting the adrenal gland, and also has diabetes and a degenerative knee condition.

"The words neighbour from hell' have been used, but my client would say this is a term that can be used on both sides of the fence."

Sentencing King to a two-year conditional discharge, Deputy District Judge Tim Rose said: "The lives of others can be made hell by neighbourly disputes like this. People get depressed and become ill, so this has to stop.

"You have pleaded guilty today, which is one-sided, so it's you that has to stop pushing down fences and waving broom handles."

King was also ordered to pay £50 compensation and £43 costs.

The prosecution also applied for King to be made the subject of an Asbo. A court hearing on that will take place at a later date.