neighbour with a garden hoe during a dispute over building work.

Magistrates Court heard one of Smith's trucks was parked on the "manicured'' lawn of neighbour Kevin Bailey in Spring Hill Close, Warwick, while it poured concrete into a next door property last year.

Smith, a former Progressive Labour Party election candidate who was forced to withdraw in 1998 after he was charged with assaulting a tenant, said he may have raised the hoe during an argument with Mr. Bailey, but he did not threaten him.

Mr. Bailey, a taxi driver, told Magistrate Will Francis he rushed out of his house on April 25 last year when he saw the truck on his lawn.

He said he shouted at Smith's driver: "Move that f***ing truck off my property, immediately.'' Smith, 40, who had been spreading concrete in a house he was building next door, jumped over a dividing wall with a hoe in his hand.

Mr. Bailey claimed: "He threatened to chop me. I said `chop me and it will be the last chop you do'. He didn't chop me.

"He hesitated. I said you will deal with the Police. The truck did not move and I told the truck driver to take the truck off my property.'' Smith, who denies threatening behaviour and represented himself, asked Mr.

Bailey, why he did not retaliate.

He replied: "If I did not have a little son, you would be looking at a corpse.'' Smith, of Spring Hill Close, admitted raising his voice, but said he intervened to stop Mr. Bailey shouting at his elderly driver, Lewis Burrows.

He said he was carrying a hoe because he and his workers were spreading concrete.

Smith admitted that when he gave a statement to Somerset Police about the incident, he declined to comment three times when asked about whether he raised the hoe to Mr. Bailey or threatened to chop him.

Crown counsel Charlene Scott said: "I put it to you that you had the hoe in your hand and had it raised, and told Mr. Bailey you were going to chop him.'' Smith replied: "Not to chop him. I did not threaten Mr. Bailey to chop him.'' "You had the hoe raised before Mr. Bailey.'' "It may have been raised in the air in the excitement of talking. The hoe, it was in hand. I did not point it toward Mr. Bailey in a threatening manner.'' Smith said he later apologised to Mr. Bailey and asked him if he would accept it.

When asked by Mr. Francis if he was apologising for threatening to chop his neighbour, Smith replied: "I was apologising about my behaviour for shouting at him and standing in his face. We were exchanging words.'' Smith's driver Lewis Burrows and his employee Edward Gilbert testified that Mr. Bailey was shouting and was aggressive, but neither of them saw Smith threatening the complainant.

Smith said he asked Mr. Bailey for five minutes to complete the concrete pour, and claimed concrete trucks had parked on his lawn before.

"Mr. Bailey persisted in his behaviour and I persisted in requesting five minutes to unload the truck,'' said Smith.

"In what I thought was a response to my request, Mr. Bailey went inside. It was upon his return when he was shouting and cursing again that I responded to him by saying `give us a few minutes and we'll be off the property'.

"One worker pointed to me that Mr. Bailey was following the truck driver, an elderly gentleman. At that point in time, I jumped off the wall and got between them so his anger would be directed toward me, not the driver.'' Mr. Francis asked: "You never threatened to chop him with the hoe?'' "No, sir.'' "Did you make any threatening gestures with the hoe?'' "No. My voice was raised, his voice was raised.''