A 49-year-old man has been warned he could be facing a jail sentence for shooting a neighbour with an air rifle during a long-running land dispute.

Ronald Carpenter admitted unlawfully wounding Leonard Laws and possessing a firearm when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court.

His not guilty plea to wounding with intent was accepted.

Carpenter, of Carpenters Close, Rochester, was living in Romney Road, Lydd, near Folkestone, when the trouble flared with Mr Laws on January 24.

Carpenter claimed that Mr Laws had used an angle grinder on a lock before he shot at him from about 70 yards. But he accepted it was a reckless and deliberate act.

He is also facing sentence for false accounting, involving an insurance claim over a Mercedes car.

He denied the charge but was convicted.

Adjourning sentence until December 20 for reports, Judge James O’Mahony warned: “Custody is very strongly indicated.

“It is firing deliberately at someone else and that is a frightening and serious matter indeed.”