'Furious' dogsitter confronted neighbour after seeing him in town, King's Lynn court told

A Fakenham man who was looking after a neighbour’s dog was “furious” to see him out enjoying himself in the town, a court was told.

Paul Oneil “lost it” as he confronted the man who was sitting with a female on the decking at Costa.

The pair, who had known each other for five years, started rowing about the dog accompanying Oneil, who was shouting and swearing.

Oneil threw the dog’s lead towards the victim and threw a punch in his direction, prosecutor Bethany Richards told magistrates in Lynn on Thursday.

At an earlier hearing Oneil had pleaded guilty to using threatening words or behaviour to cause alarm or distress on October 13, 2020.

A statement from the complainant said he was worried that the dog would run out into the road after its lead had been thrown at him and he no longer felt comfortable going out on his own.

Andrew Cogan, mitigating, said Oneil accepted that he was “out of order”.

“It was a month he was looking after the dog. He was furious when he saw the complainant enjoying himself and told him that he didn’t deserve to have a dog or a nice flat.

“He does not accept that he threw a punch that didn’t land towards the complainant.”

Oneil was fined £120 and ordered to pay £105 costs and a £34 victim surcharge.