A MAN who repeatedly threatened to shoot a neighbour and two others in a 'vendetta' has been locked up for 18 months.

Naeem Shazad, 38, also said to have made a rape threat over a woman connected to one of the three men, had struck in the street, telling twin bothers Kevin and Keith Hankey and their friend Damian Geddes, they were all going to get it.

Kevin Hankey, who had earlier claimed to police the defendant's brother Raheel Arif had attacked him, had told a Burnley Crown Court jury: “He said all three of us were dead. He was going to shoot us.”

In August Shazad, of Dalton Street, Nelson, was convicted by the jury of intimidation, committed last September 27.

His younger brother Arif, 20, of Fleet Street, Nelson, had been cleared of assaulting Kevin Hankey, after a three day hearing.

He had also been found not guilty of damage on the direction of Recorder Kevin Talbot. Both brothers had denied the allegations against them.

The court had been told how Mr Arif had been alleged to have attacked neighbour Kevin Hankey with a cricket bat in the doorway of his home, last September 3.

Mr Hankey, was said to have been left bleeding heavily and had to have a brain scan after he was hit over the head. A youth in the street had shouted that Mr Arif was not responsible. Mr Arif was arrested and questioned.

Mr Hankey had told the court that on September 27, his brother Keith pulled up outside his house in a van, with Mr Geddes as passenger. He said they 'got a lot of threats' from Shazad, who was aggressive.

He had continued: “He said all three of us were dead. He was going to shoot us.”

Mr Hankey said Shazad was in the middle of Dalton Street when he made the threats, but none of the three said anything back.