A neighbour who fell out with a couple in his street took revenge by tampering with the brakes on their car, a jury was told.

Mark Rowntree, 23, of Wood Farm Close, Leigh, denies he slit the brake pipe of the black Fiat Panda belonging to Caroline Waller and her partner John Stevens.

He is charged with tampering with property with intent to endanger lives.

It is claimed he slit the brake pipe four times and was spotted by another neighbour, Paul Bush, crouched under the car with a craft knife at about 1am.

Rowntree denies he was there. When Mr Stevens attempted to drive his girlfriend to work the following morning he quickly discovered the brakes were not working.

As he drove out of the cul-de-sac onto the busy Eastwood Road he pulled the handbrake on and ended up near the entrance to a garage on the other side of the road, Basildon Crown Court was told.

The jury also heard that when the couple first got in the car there was a shudder. A potato had been pushed up the exhaust. The pair removed it before setting off.

Miss Waller said: "When we got to the end of the close my boyfriend shouted 'we haven't got any brakes!'.

"I thought he was having a laugh but then I went into one. I was a little bit shook up."

Under cross examination Miss Waller admitted she and her boyfriend had been friends at one point with Rowntree.

He had done some work for free on a previous car and she had repaid him with the occasional cigarette, cooked dinner or glass of brandy.

She denied an allegation made by the defence counsel that the three of them had sex.

John Stevens told the court that on an earlier occasion he had physically attacked Rowntree for making "horrible" comments about his girlfriend. Mr Stevens admitted common assault before magistrates in June last year.

The trial continues.

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