Man spared jail for flooding neighbor

PERTH, Scotland, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- A Scottish court ordered community service for a man convicted of deliberately flooding a Perthshire's house -- a sentence the woman called a "joke" Thursday.

George McGourty damaged Shirley Elliot's home so much she had to move out with her partner and her son while it was repaired, The Scotsman reported. It cost about $75,000 to repair the damage.

A judge in Perth's sheriff court imposed a non-custodial sentence Thursday. McGourty was ordered to perform 260 hours of community service and to pay 1,000 pounds ($1,500) each to the victims.

"It is a joke. It is shocking," Elliott said. "He should have been sent to jail for what he did. Everybody we have spoken to thought he should be jailed for it."

There was general agreement that McGourty's conduct was reprehensible. His solicitor called his actions "insane," and Sheriff Leslie Foulis, while sparing him prison, said what he did was "way beyond niggles between neighbors."

The feud between Elliott and McGourty, an electrician, began when she hired him to wire an addition to her house in Bridge of Earn. As the feud escalated, McGourty drilled a hole into a wall and stuck a hose through it connected to a tap.