A NIGHTMARE neighbour has been made homeless after making threats to hire a mixed martial arts fighter to beat up a man who he was banned from contacting.

Benjamin Carr was prevented from speaking to any of the victims of a car rage rampage in Sandford, near Crediton, when he received a suspended jail sentence for assault and dangerous driving in March.

He broke the restraining order within two months by making threats to one of the neighbours he assaulted. He walked past his house while on his phone and was heard to say “I might just do the f***er now”.

He went on say he had someone who was a mixed martial arts fighter who was going to beat him up. The incident was recorded on a Ring doorbell which was handed over to police.

Carr was advised by police not to return to Sandford after his arrest and has become homeless, currently sleeping in a tent in Okehampton. He claimed he had been goaded by his neighbour before the incident.

He was offered a chance to stay out of jail after a Judge at Exeter Crown Court deferred his sentence until October and told him he would not activate the suspended sentence if he cooperates perfectly with the probation service and stays out of trouble.

Carr, aged 50, formerly of Meadowside, Sandford, but now of no fixed address, Okehampton, admitted breaching a restraining order and Judge James Patrick adjourned his sentence until October 23.

The judge told him: “I want to see an absolutely glowing report from probation. You need to understand that whatever grievances you may have other people, you are the one who is subject to this order.”

Miss Laura D’Alessandro, prosecuting, said Carr received a two year suspended sentence for dangerous driving, assault and criminal damage on March 3 when a restraining order was made banning any contact with the victims of the earlier incident on August 10, 2023.

She said that on April 23, he walked past a neighbour’s house while on the phone and made implied and explicit threats, including getting a MMA fighter to attack him. The incident was caught on doorbell camera.

He was arrested and interviewed and shown the footage but said he had been goaded by the other man.

Miss Rachel Smith, defending, said Carr had lived a law abiding life until he started to suffer poor mental health and has been diagnosed with PTSD, emotionally unstable personality disorder, anxiety and depression.

He returned to his mother’s house in Sandford after being held on remand for several months but was advised not to stay there after being arrested for this incident.

She said: “All he can do is apologise for his behaviour and try to address his issues. He found himself homeless and is now living in a tent on a campsite in Okehampton.”

In the previous incident on August 10, 2023, Carr went on a wrecking spree in which he attacked two residents and damaged five cars.

He was drunk when he attacked one man twice before turning his rage on a second neighbour who tried to intervene. He ripped the wing mirror off one car, battered its bonnet with a ladder, and smashed a £1,000 set of double-glazed doors with a rock.

He then got into his own Mercedes car and tried to drive off. He hit two more cars, tried to reverse back at their owners as they remonstrated with him, but missed them and hit a third vehicle.