Neighbour spied on girl

A nightmare neighbour tunnelled into next door's attic and made spy holes in a teenager's bedroom ceiling while she slept, a court heard.

Michael Smith removed bricks from a wall dividing his attic from neighbour Lisa White's and climbed into her roof space. He then used a screwdriver to make four holes in the ceiling of her 16-year-old daughter Kayleigh's bedroom.

The teenager woke up to find dust on her pillow and spotted Smith making the holes.

Smith, aged 47, of New John Street, Halesowen, also installed a camera in his garden trained on the family's house during a campaign of harassment against Miss White and her daughters, Halesowen Magistrates Court heard.

Smith, who is already under an Asbo for plaguing neighbours in the street, denied breaching his order on two occasions, but was found guilty after a day-long trial.

He was bailed but warned by magistrates he could now face jail when he is sentenced on November 7.

Victim Kayleigh White, now aged 17, waived her right to anonymity by agreeing to magistrates lifting an order which would have restricted reporting of the case.

She told the court she was woken early on May 19 after hearing movement. She noticed dust on her pillow and looked up to see holes being made in her ceiling by a metal implement.

The teenager told the court it had been a traumatic experience which had left her terrified for months.

She said: "I felt scared. I had bad dreams and would wake up screaming and crying. When it first happened I would not sleep in my room, it took a while for me to go back upstairs, it was only after the holes were filled that I felt safer."

Smith denied making any holes and refused to admit there was a wall between his attic and his neighbour's, despite solicitors stopping the trial to visit the property and see it for themselves.