A nightmare neighbour broke a restraining order by firing an air rifle at a man pottering around his garden, a court has heard.

Izaak Bradbury, 30, was subject to a restraining order barring him from contacting his neighbours on School Road in Wetton, near Stoke-on-Trent, due to previous violent incidents.

He had a history of aggressive behaviour towards other residents, who were subject to unprovoked threats and physical attacks by their “schizophrenic” neighbour.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that, despite the restraining orders, he took his behaviour a step further on April 2 this year when he targeted a man with an airgun.

An unnamed neighbour said he was in his garden when he heard Bradbury “shouting, swearing and ranting”, followed by the “thud of a discharge of an airgun”.

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Stone-on-Trent Live reported that the unnamed neighbour, who was represented by prosecutor Antony Longworth, said that, after hearing the thud of the gun on April 2 this year, he “decided to collect his phone” so he could record the encounter.

As he “lay down to do so”, he was spotted by Bradbury, and the neighbour “saw him fire the air rifle at him”, after which he got up, and the defendant assaulted him.

Mr Longworth said: “The defendant came towards him and swung a punch at him, hitting his left ear, which caused a cut. He continued to hit his ear and face.

“The man’s wife came out of the house to try to stop what was happening. She took hold of the defendant. He turned and pushed her in the chest. They went into the house and locked the door.”

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Bradbury, who is currently at The Priory Hospital in Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to four charges of breaching a restraining order, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two charges of assault by beating, possession of an offensive weapon, and possession of a firearm with intent.

He has been made the subject of a section 37 hospital order, with presiding judge Michael Maher concluding during his sentencing that he was “plainly suffering from a mental disorder, schizophrenia”.

The judge added that he was satisfied Bradbury’s offending was “due to that mental disorder” and said he had made his neighbours’ lives “very difficult indeed”.

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The man had previously attacked another neighbour – a former schoolmate who had moved onto School Road with his wife in 2022 – on July 14 last year when he jumped over his garden wall and went for him while swinging a claw hammer.

The court heard Bradbury was “shouting nonsense” when he grabbed the man’s shirt and held him by the throat against the wall before trying to “strike him with the hammer”.

He was arrested the following day but returned to the couple’s home at 2.10am on February 21, 2023, and threatened the man would “never walk again” while shouting abuse.

Bradbury was on bail during the air rifle incident in 2023, and a judge also issued a deprivation order for the weapon and the claw hammer.

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