Furious neighbour, 62, who beat up elderly man next door as the victim’s wife said ‘he’s a sick man, you’ll kill him!’ after being called a ‘weirdo’ in a petty parking dispute eight months earlier is convicted of common assault

• Russell Jones, 62, targeted Robert Burns, outside a hairdressing salon
• Jones punched Mr Burns as Mrs Burns pleaded: ‘He is a sick man — you’ll kill him’
• The father-of-one claimed that Mrs Burns called him a ‘weirdo’ and said: ‘I know about you and your daughter’ in a petty parking dispute eight months earlier

A furious neighbour, 62, who beat up an elderly man next door after the victim’s wife called him a ‘weirdo’ in a petty parking dispute eight months earlier has been convicted of common assault.

Russell Jones, 62, targeted Robert Burns, who is also in his 60s, outside a hairdressing salon and rained down punches on his head as the victim’s spouse Wendy Burns pleaded: ‘He is a sick man — you’ll kill him.’

Jones, of Garston, Liverpool, had to be pulled away by a passer-by but he left Mr Burns with cuts to both his elbows and bruising around his face.

The 62-year-old had been offended following an argument eight months earlier with Mrs Burns outside their terraced properties.

He had left bags of rubbish and tins of paint in a space behind his car — blocking neighbours from parking their own vehicles.

The father-of-one claimed that Mrs Burns called him a ‘weirdo’ and said: ‘I know about you and your daughter’ during the row. 

Russell Jones (pictured), 62, targeted Robert Burns outside a hairdressing salon and rained down punches on his head

She claimed he had made sick remarks about her son.

At Sefton Magistrates Court, Jones was convicted of common assault on Mr Burns and was acquitted of assaulting Mrs Burns during the same incident which occurred in the early afternoon of September 9 last year.

The couple were on their way to the post office and saw Jones, who had been taking his 92-year-old mother to the hairdressers, banging his hand on the top of his Nisan Note car and shouting ‘glass houses, glass houses’.

Mr Burns told the hearing: ‘He was quite aggressive and was doing damage to his car. I do not know why he was doing it, I have not got a clue.’

The couple ignored him but as they walked further up the road, Jones pulled up and started shouting at them.

‘He ran over and was ranting and raving about something,’ Mr Burns added: ‘Again, I did not understand what he was saying. He was standing right in front of Wendy.

‘I said “Back off, what’s the matter?” He turned to me and said, “Why, what are you going to do about it?” He was right in my face.

‘Then he turned towards Wendy, grabbed hold of her arm and put his hand on her chest. I was more worried about what he was going to do to my wife so I moved to get him off and then the punches started flying.

‘A couple of them connected and I ended up on the floor. I was still being assaulted when I was on the floor. He was raining punches down on me. Another person came along and dragged him off.’

Mr Burns suffered cuts to both his elbows and bruising around his face. 

He said that it was difficult to know what to do, and he was worried about his wife.

The father-of-one claimed that Wendy Burns (pictured) called him a ‘weirdo’ and said: ‘I know about you and your daughter’ during the row

When asked whether his wife had called Jones a ‘weirdo’ during an earlier argument Mr Burns replied: ‘I do not know, but I will agree with that.’

Mrs Burns, who is her 60s, told the trial how in January 2021 she had a confrontation with Jones when he was arguing with another female neighbour about a parking issue. 

During the row Jones was alleged to have made a sick comment about Mrs Burns’ son and she replied: ‘What has that to do with this.’

Mrs Burns said: ‘I told him to be quiet and I remember my neighbour saying: “That is pure evil what you said”. I remember saying: “You would not be standing here saying that if my family was here. You are a bully.”‘

Recalling the assault last September, she added: ‘We were very shocked. Mr Jones came over to me and put his hand on my chest and I thought at first he was going to push me over. I was hysterical. I could not understand why that was happening.

‘My husband told him to get away from me, to get his hands off me and go away, but he would not.

‘Eventually after my husband told him to get away three times he turned to my husband and went right up to his face and said: “You do not scare me, what are you going to do?”

‘He was aggressive. I was screaming at him to just leave us alone.

‘Then he put his hand out to grab my husband’s throat. The next thing I knew he was on top of my husband. My husband was on the floor. I tried to drag him off but I could not because I was not strong enough. I just remember him hitting him.’

Mrs Jones said that by this point, she was ‘hysterical’. 

‘I was screaming for anybody to help,’ she said. ‘A man came over who was working on a house opposite. He came over and grabbed the defendant off my husband.

‘And then a lady came over to help. She picked up a chain that had been ripped off my husband’s neck.

‘I could not understand why he chose this day to come at us. We had done nothing. And that particular day my husband was not very well.’

Witness Jennifer Dowden said that she heard an ‘almighty screech’ of Jones’ car as it stopped and watched as he ran at the couple.

Jones (picutred) said he had been left insulted by Mrs Burns and wanted to know what she meant by her comment about his daughter

‘I could not hear what he was shouting but I could hear her saying: “Leave him alone. He is a very sick man” and then all hell broke loose,’ Ms Dowden said. 

‘The man stood up on his tiptoes and had a hold of him by the other gentleman by the collar. He then punched down onto the man’s head. His wife was hysterical. She was saying “He is a sick man. He is a sick man.”

‘The gentlemen who had been punched went down on to the floor. She was absolutely hysterical, saying “You will kill him”, but by then he had straddled the gentleman and was hitting him again.

‘I could not tell how many times, but I know his glasses shot off with the first crack. I do not think he knew what hit him to be honest. He could not get up, he could not move. 

‘The attacker, he kept going at him, I don’t know what made him irate so much.’

Jones said he had been left insulted by Mrs Burns and wanted to know what she meant by her comment about his daughter.

‘I did not take being called a weirdo seriously, but I do take exception to “I know about you and your daughter”‘, he said.

‘I was deeply offended by that. That was the only thing that got up my nose. 

‘She has been listening to tittle tattle about me, and I’ve listened to tittle tattle about the and that’s what I meant by glass houses.

‘On the day of the incident I heard him say something like “nutter” under his breath. So, I thought I would go after her to ask what she meant by “I know about you and your daughter”. I wanted to know what she meant by that as I was deeply hurt by it.

‘But I certainly and categorically did not get on my toes and punch an old man, older than me.’

Jones will be sentenced next month at Liverpool Magistrates Court. 

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