A bachelor who developed a dangerous obsession with his downstairs neighbour has been banned from his own home.

Lawrence Elleker, 60, launched a vendetta against Zoya Owen after the middle-aged mother spurned his tentative advances. For six years, the part-time gardener set about making her life a living hell.

Yesterday a court brought his campaign of harassment to an abrupt end when the housing association which owns Elleker's flat in Windmill Avenue, Hassocks, succeeded in an attempt to have an antisocial behaviour order (Asbo) imposed on him.

Elleker, who lives with his elderly mother Betty, a small, frail-looking woman believed to be in her 80s, has been told he cannot return to the home they share nor visit the immediate vicinity.

The ban will remain in place until a full hearing takes place in February next year.

Crawley magistrates heard how it was several years since Elleker embarked on a persistent course of anti-social behaviour aimed at Mrs Owen and her son Grant Davis.

Previous court hearings heard of a string of incidents in which Elleker swore at Mrs Owen, threw rubbish into her garden and hammered on the floor above her flat.

The frightened mother had a 6ft wall put up around her garden in an attempt to stop her tormentor peering over and a panic phone was installed at her home.

But Elleker persisted, once smashing their communal garden gate into her so hard, he bruised her legs. She became scared to leave her house.

Despite several court rulings in Mrs Owen's favour, an injunction preventing him approaching her or her son and a 14-day suspended prison sentence hanging over his head, he had failed to stop.

The court was shown a video in which Elleker was seen to lift logs from Mrs Owen's side of the property and throw them across her garden. His elderly mother watched from the back of the courtroom as her son was heard calling their neighbour a "slag".

Brendan Mullee, prosecuting on behalf of the New Downland Housing Association, said: "We say Mr Elleker delights in this behaviour. He is not particularly bothered by any form of sanction a court imposes upon him and so he continually breaches it."

Mr Mullee said the housing association could apply to repossess the Ellekers' property, home to Mrs Elleker since 1976, but making a woman in her 80s homeless was not something "a responsible landlord" would want to do.

Elleker represented himself in court yesterday. He told magistrates: "I'm not antisocial and never have been and the rest of the village knows that."

He submitted a 14-page handwritten statement, in which he accused his neighbour of making the whole thing up. He proceeded to read from it but was soon cut short by the magistrates, who told him they had heard enough.

He had attempted to tell the court how Mrs Owen had "lied about everything".

He said: "I have from the start failed to understand the behaviour of all the authorities in this case. No one kicked anyone. No one bruised anyone. The bruises were self-inflicted at a later date by Owen."

But when Elleker, who at first refused to refer to his neighbour as anything but "Owen", accused her of attacking other people, Mr Mullee intervened, saying there was not a shred of evidence for that.

He said: "Mr Elleker is using this as an opportunity to bad mouth Mrs Owen. It is an abuse of the court. He is the only man who stands in court a proven liar."

Imposing an interim order, bench chairwoman Anne Billson told Elleker he had wilfully ignored previous court orders and, with this likely to continue, an Asbo was a "just" way to protect Mrs Owen and her son.

Elleker was ordered not to have any contact with Mrs Owen or her son and not to enter or attempt to enter a specified area, including his home and the immediate vicinity.

The order also prevents Elleker from assaulting or threatening any person with violence or being verbally abusive to anyone within Mid Sussex.

Mrs Billson asked Elleker if he understood what the order meant, adding: "You must not return to your own flat."

He replied: "So you say."

Mrs Billson warned him: "If you do, you can imagine what can happen. It is a court order."

Outside court, Mrs Owen told The Argus she felt an overwhelming relief, saying: "I'm so pleased I am now actually able to go out of my front door and feel safe."

She believes Elleker's grudge was born out of rejection. When she moved to Windmill Avenue nine years ago they became friends. But when he got a bit too familiar she told him she didn't want him talking to her like that any more.

She hoped they could return to being just friends but the bachelor did not take it well.

Asked if she thought her neighbour would abide by the court's decision, she said: "He hasn't done so far."

She said she was aware the ruling would leave the elderly Mrs Elleker living on her own but said: "She has encouraged him. When he lunged at me with the garden shears she just laughed. She has really brought it on herself."

In August, Elleker was given a 14-day suspended prison sentence after being convicted of ignoring court orders preventing him from approaching Mrs Owen or her son.

He is due back in court next month accused of breaching the orders again.