A father and his teenage daughter left their next-door neighbour with a fractured skull in a revenge attack for killing their pet dog with a samurai sword, a court heard.

Matthew and Jade Oram allegedly punched, kicked and stamped on Adam Ashurst exactly four months to the day after their 10-year-old English bull terrier Dave died.

A court heard the dog was struck with the ornamental weapon by Mr Ashurst after it escaped from its garden in Gillingham, and into his neighbouring terraced house.

Having reportedly started to attack his family's pet toy poodle, the 30-year-old grabbed what he described as a katana and dealt it one fatal blow in his living room.

But when police decided not to charge him, it was said the Oram family were 'very upset and very resentful'.

It is alleged father and daughter then waged a four-month campaign of harassment against their neighbours.

This included stones being thrown at his bedroom window, verbal and physical threats, spraying water from a hosepipe into their property, smashing a front window with a brick and cutting a telecommunications cable.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Mr Ashurst, who lived with his mother and 84-year-old grandmother, became so scared he set up webcams to film their behaviour.

One clip played to the jury even showed an arm reaching across from the Oram home in Castlemaine Avenue with a decorating roller to paint an upstairs window black and obscure the camera's view.

Another showed Matthew Oram repeatedly banging on Mr Ashurst's bedroom window, having climbed up via an extension flat roof.

The alleged harassment, which Mr Ashurst said left him feeling 'petrified', was said to have culminated with violence in the street on July 15 last year.

Mr Ashurst suffered a fractured eye socket and needed surgery to repair the bone and muscle damage.

He was also left with a zigzag-patterned imprint on his shoulder said to be 'a clear comparison' to the trainers worn by Matthew Oram at the time.

The court heard he told police after his arrest that he was frustrated that no action had been taken against Mr Ashurst for killing his pet.

He added that on seeing Mr Ashurst in the street, he 'lost control' and decided to 'give him a slap'.

But the jury was told he denies intending to cause the injuries that his neighbour suffered.

Matthew Oram, 46, is on trial accused of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. But the court heard he has pleaded guilty to the less serious offence of causing grievous bodily harm.

Jade Oram, now 20 but 19 at the time, is alleged by the prosecution to have played a 'participating and supporting' role in the attack on Mr Ashurst.

She denies both charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and causing grievous bodily harm.

The court was told she accepts being present when her neighbour was assaulted but denies being involved.

The father and daughter both deny putting Mr Ashurst in fear of violence by harassment between March 15 and July 15 2017.

Prosecutor Tony Prosser told the court at the start of the trial Mr Ashurst was arrested and interviewed by police after killing the Oram's dog but released without charge.

However, the alleged harassment began within hours of his release from custody.

"The Crown say the Oram family, whose pet dog had been killed by Adam Ashurst, were clearly very unhappy with the police decision and very resentful towards Adam Ashurst and his family for what he had done in killing their dog," said Mr Prosser.

"They describe a series of unpleasant incidents that followed over the next few months...The Crown say this all amounts to a campaign of harassment to put Adam Ashurst in fear of violence, directly as a result of the fact he had killed their dog in March."

Mr Ashurst was then set upon as he went for a walk just after 11.30am on July 15 last year.

The court heard Matthew and Jade Oram pulled up in the family Porsche, got out and started to attack him.

Mr Prosser said it was 'impossible' to say who caused what injuries, but father and daughter 'acted together'.

Matthew Oram later admitted punching his neighbour and kicking his body as he curled up on the ground, but denied kicking or stamping on his head.

The prosecutor told the court, however, that the footwear pattern left on the back of Mr Ashurst's shoulder was a 'clear comparison' to his trainers.

"The Crown say that indicates a degree of violence and the intention to cause really serious injury," added Mr Prosser.

"Jade Oram denied being personally involved in making threats at the neighbours. She accepts she was present in the violence but denies participation.

"The Crown's case is that they were both acting together in the use of that violence...she played a participating and supporting role."

Speaking for the first time publically about the day he killed one of the Orams' two English bull terriers, Mr Ashurst told the jury he was upstairs in his bedroom when he heard his dog 'yelping' and his grandmother, June Fullagar, screaming downstairs in the front room.

Giving evidence from behind screens, he said he grabbed one of two samurai swords on display in his bedroom.

"I didn't know what was going on and grabbed the only weapon in the house, not knowing what to expect, and ran downstairs. It was a katana.

"Their dog was attacking my toy poodle. My dog was on its back in the corner being quite nastily attacked. My nan was flailing in her armchair.

"I just hit the dog once with the katana. The dog immediately stopped its attack and lay on the floor."

"I just tried to stay out of the way and hoped that time would heal but it didn't..." -

Mr Ashurst, who was later corrected in court for claiming it was a pit bull, agreed with the prosecutor that the animal died shortly after his blow.

He added: "I called the police immediately. I tried to get emergency vets. I really don't like to see animals suffer and wanted someone to come and try to help the dog.

"The weapon in question was ornamental and not something I would usually use.

"The police couldn't get hold of any vets but they sent down officers before I let the Orams in."

Mr Ashurst, who agreed the steel-bladed, three-quarter length sword was 'pretty sharp' and capable of 'slicing through' flesh, was arrested, interviewed and released without charge.

But he told the court that within hours, an 'angry and aggressive' Matthew Oram, who had lived next door for about 15 years, was banging at his bedroom window, asking him to go outside.

"I thought he wanted to square up to me, fight. I was in fear and didn't want to go outside. I am not a fighter," he said.

"I was scared of what he might do to me after what had transpired the evening prior."

Mr Ashurst then detailed the alleged harassment he endured, and was scared by to such an extent that he rarely ventured out.

"I had no idea what action Matthew Oram intended to do if he got hold of me. I just wanted to remain hidden," he said.

"I just tried to stay out of the way and hoped that time would heal but it didn't."

The court heard Mr Ashurst and his family eventually decided to move and he had gone for a walk on July 15 so estate agents could hold an open house viewing.

Matthew and Jade Oram were said to have quickly followed in the car, pulling up a few feet ahead of him in nearby Oak Avenue.

Mr Ashurst told the jury they got out and walked towards him, with Jade one to two metres behind her father.

He said he was 'frozen in fear' but managed to dial 999 on his mobile.

Describing Matthew Oram, Mr Ashurst said: "He looked like a man on a mission. He was just coming straight towards me. As soon as he got to me he pushed me with two hands on my chest to the floor.

"I landed on my butt. He started coming towards me, followed by Jade, and I just went into the foetal position and covered myself as best I could.

"I was just trying to protect my face. I couldn't see, apart from shoes coming towards me.

"I just felt kicks to the face, head, stomps on my back. I was just screaming for assistance. It felt like it was not going to stop."

Mr Ashurst said he could not see who was doing what to him in the attack, or count the number of blows.

"They were coming in very fast. It felt like they were just jumping on me. I could just see shoes, trainers, coming at me and I closed my eyes and tried to protect my face," he added.

"I remember being kicked and punched and stomped on many times but it all just blended into one."

The violence left him with what he described as his eye socket being 'completely shattered', with the muscle collapsing into the cavity.

He had surgery to insert a plastic plate and has been left with double vision when tired.

Mr Ashurst denied when cross-examined by Matthew Oram's barrister James Ross that he had said 'Don't kill me, don't kill me' before walking towards him.

He also maintained he did not 'put himself' on the ground.

The trial continues.