A THATCHAM man could face jail after again being found guilty of subjecting his neighbours to homophobic abuse.
Philip Prior, aged 44, of Malthouse Close, was found guilty of harassing his neighbours Stephen Guy and Glynn Morton.
Reading Magistrates’ Court heard how Mr Prior shouted homophobic comments, sang anti-gay songs and pinned gay pornographic images to the outside of his neighbours’ home.
Mr Prior denied the offence claiming that any song he had sung was for his entertainment only.
The court heard on Wednesday of last week how Mr Prior regularly changed the words in song lyrics to make them sound anti-gay, which he would sing loudly in his garden.
Giving evidence, Mr Guy said he and his partner were subject to regular taunts from the defendant.
The taunts grew so bad that the couple started making notes of the dates, times and details of all the comments.
"I felt extremely intimidated,” said Mr Guy. “I was harassed in my own house to the extent that I was wary about leaving my house when I knew he was around."
Ciro D'Allessio, defending, claimed that Mr Guy and Mr Morton had written their notes together with the intent to alter them.
They both denied this, saying that they each contributed to the logbook, but that they did not alter it to make Mr Prior look worse.
Under cross-examination, Mr Prior, who has lived in the street for some 16 years, denied that he was homophobic.
He said he felt like "a prisoner in his own home" after claiming that Mr Guy had taunted him with words such as “sissy”.
Mr Prior, who was convicted of harassing his neighbours following a previous case in May, said: "I did change the words sometimes to entertain myself but it was for my own amusement.
"This is the first time I have had reason to know gays.
"I offered my friendship to these gay people when they first moved in."
Mr Prior said it was wrong that he did not like them and wrong that he did not like two men living next door who were partners.
After magistrates convicted him of harassment, chairwoman of the magistrates, Mrs Jenny Verity, said Mr Prior’s comments were of a homophobic nature.
She said: "We consider that your offence is so serious that you may go to custody."
Mr Prior was placed on conditional bail and will be sentenced on December 12 after pre-sentence reports have been completed.