A MAN has been found innocent after a "campaign of allegations" from his neighbour brought him to court charged with punching a teenage boy.

The victim, who will not be named because of his age, alleged that Michael Drodge banged on his door and accused him of hurting his dogs before punching him in the face on October 14, last year.

The 67-year-old was then said to have attempted to punch and thrown a buggy at Kirsty Jane Norgate while he stood at the gate to her front garden.

Mr Drodge, of Launcelot Close, Andover, pleaded not guilty to the two assault charges and stood trial at Salisbury Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, August 14.

Katie Porter-Windley, defending, said the allegations against Mr Drodge were "inconsistent at best" and accused the complainants of colluding to bring the case before the court as Miss Norgate "had enough of Mr Drodge and just wanted to get back at him".

"They are inconsistent because they made this up at the time," added Ms Porter-Windley.

The court heard that Mr Drodge had lived in Launcelot Close for the past 40 years "without any problems" until the Norgate family moved in around four years ago.

Michael Drodge stood trial in Salisbury on August 14.Michael Drodge stood trial in Salisbury on August 14. (Image: Newsquest)

A feud began between the neighbours after Mr Drodge made an allegation about Miss Norgate and his former next door neighbour Gemma Johnson's children on August 20, 2022.

Ten days after this was reported to the police, Miss Norgate asked officers to visit Mr Drodge claiming he had set up a CCTV camera facing her garden "to watch her children".

Officers searched Mr Drodge's home and found an unplugged "dummy camera" which was not facing the garden.

Ms Porter-Windley suggested Miss Norgate made this allegation as she was angry at Mr Drodge, to which she responded: "Yes, I was angry at him for that on that day but then I got over that."

This was the first of several allegations against Mr Drodge which resulted in no further action.

However, Mr Drodge admitted to the court that he had been cautioned by the police for pouring a bowl of dog water over Miss Norgate.

Giving evidence, Miss Norgate told the court: "He [Michael Drodge] has made mine and my children's lives absolute hell.

"He did scare me to the point where I had to buy a Ring doorbell."

Summing up the defence's case, Ms Porter-Windley said: "It's fair to say the crux of this case is a neighbour dispute which has gone on for quite some time.

"You [Miss Norgate] significantly dislike Mr Drodge and over the last years have made a campaign of allegations about him."

Each witness gave a different account of how Mr Drodge allegedly knocked once, multiple times and banged on the Norgate family's front door before assaulting a child.

Chair magistrate Elaine Stallard acquitted Mr Drodge and said the bench put aside Miss Johnson's evidence as it was not credible and had "too many discrepancies".

Ms Stallard said the child's evidence was "the most credible but there were still large discrepancies".

An application to impose a five-year restraining order preventing Mr Drodge from contacting Miss Norgate or visiting her home was refused.