A “ONE-MAN nuisance” threatened to blow up his brother’s flat and his neighbour’s car during a crime spree in Newport.

Neil Hughes, 41, had been made the subject of a community order after being convicted of harassment against his brother and using threatening words or behaviour against his brother’s neighbour.

He had also been sentenced at Newport Magistrates' Court for a burglary at the Bellevue Group Practice when he took a GP’s mobile phone, the theft of 23 dresses worth £460 from Primark and fraud by using a stolen bank card to buy goods.

Just a day after that sentence on November 25 last year, Hughes turned up at his brother’s home asking him for money and cigarettes.

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When his requests was turned down, the defendant told him: “I’ve got petrol and I’m going to burn your house down.”

Alexander Orndal, prosecuting, said: “He was holding a blue funnel which he placed on the roof of a parked car before saying, ‘I'll leave that there for later.’

“This frightened his brother who believed that the defendant would carry out the threat.

“He described him as being unpredictable.”

When the neighbour came out of his address to see what all the noise was about, Hughes threatened to blow up his car.

He also called the man a “grass” following his conviction the day before for the using threatening words or behaviour offence against him.

Hughes was arrested a few minutes later after he walked into the nearby Heron Foods supermarket on Cardiff Road and walked out again with two bottles of Baileys without paying.

The defendant pleaded guilty to threatening to destroy property, witness intimidation and shoplifting.

He has 41 previous convictions for 120 offences, mostly for theft.

Hughes has long-standing drink and drug addiction problems, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

Ben Waters representing Hughes said his client was bipolar and would bother his brother for money after spending all his benefits on drink and drugs.

“He allows his mouth to run away with him,” his barrister added.

“The defendant can be loose with his words.”

The judge, Recorder David Payne, said of Hughes: “He’s a one-man nuisance.”

Turning to him, he told the defendant: “You were taking crack cocaine on a daily basis and heroin on weekends.

“Your previous offending is a serious aggravating factor.”

Hughes, of South Park Road, Splott, Cardiff was jailed for 10 months.

He was made the subject of a three-year restraining order not to contact his brother or his neighbour.