A FOUL-mouthed Rudloe pensioner could be given the equivalent of an ASBO after shouting obscenities at neighbours in his cul-de-sac.

Antonio Ciriello, of Ashwood Road, Rudloe, appeared before Swindon magistrates on Wednesday charged with harassing a police community support officer, breaching the terms of a restraining order.

The court was told the 83-year-old could be heard in his garden “shouting and ranting at whoever happened to be walking past”. They included one elderly man who uses a zimmerframe.

Ciriello, who was born in Italy, is the subject of a number of restraining orders banning him from having contact with his neighbours. It is understood the disagreements began with an argument over who was returning Ciriello’s wheelie bin from the end of the Rudloe cul-de-sac.

Prosecutor Keith Ballinger told magistrates Shaun Redmond, an award-winning Corsham PCSO, was off duty but had gone to check on the zimmer-frame-using pensioner to make sure he was okay after being subjected to the verbal abuse.

It is claimed Ciriello said: “F*** you, b******” at the PCSO and added: “You shouldn’t work for the police.”

When he was interviewed by police, Ciriello admitted he had used foul language but said it hadn’t been directed at anyone in particular.

Mike Pulsford, defending, said Ciriello felt like his neighbours were ganging up on him. “He says he was minding his own business before [the neighbours] assembled. He says they were abusing him.

“He says he minds his own business, but when he feels he’s being spied on he doesn’t like it.”

The solicitor had tried to persuade Ciriello to move house and had even offered to bring an estate agent along on a home visit to value the bungalow.

But his attempts seem to have fallen on deaf ears. “His attitude is, ‘I’ve been there 30 years, why should I be pushed out by other people?’”

Mr Pulsford sighed: “Every time the neighbours fall out with him because there’s an exchange of words, police seem to get him arrested.”

Ciriello, who admitted the harassment charge, is due back at court at the end of the month. He is due to be sentenced for two public order offences and prosecutors are expected to ask magistrates for a criminal behaviour order, the new replacement to the ASBO.

Magistrates decided to adjourn the latest harassment charge to his next court appearance on August 29 at Swindon Magistrates Court. He was granted unconditional bail.