A neighbour from hell is facing life behind bars after being convicted today of murdering a man over a row about excessive noise.

Heavy drug user Gordon Locke showed no reaction as the jury of seven women and five men returned a unanimous verdict following about six hours of deliberation.

Judge David Griffith Jones QC adjourned sentence until next Thursday, January 24.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Locke stabbed Gordon Farnes twice with a knife used for gutting fish at flats in Tunbridge Wells.

Long suffering Mr Farnes, 43, had knocked on his ceiling after hearing banging coming from the flat above occupied by Locke and his girlfriend.

Shortly before he collapsed and died, the victim managed to phone his mother and tell her: “He just attacked me.”

Mr Farnes had lived at the flat in Sherwood Road for eight years.

Locke, 28, had moved in with Rebecca Hadlow, who had been there about a year.

Prosecutor Eloise Marshall QC said after Locke went to live at the flat the noise level increased and exacerbated Mr Farnes’ mental health problems.

As a result, he applied to move to a new home.

There had been shouting between the floor and ceiling. Mr Farnes banged on the ceiling when the noise was excessive.

His mother urged him not to retaliate. He replied: “I know mum. Much as I would like to punch the bloke, I won’t unless they come down to me, then it is self-defence.”

Miss Hadlow was to tell police Locke had been taking excessive amounts of cocaine and not sleeping. Shortly before the alleged attack, she said, he had “sniffed up” a week’s supply of the drug and became aggressive.

On the morning of July 17 last year, Miss Hadlow had a seizure while in the bathroom and Locke reacted angrily.

He went into the bathroom and there was more banging. Mr Farnes then started banging on his ceiling, and Locke became angrier.

Holly Mulligan, who was also at the flat, said Locke became “mentally crazy” and snapped.

Miss Marshall said Locke left the flat and went to Mr Farnes’ door and lashed out with the knife.

The fatal wound entered the liver and went into the main “pumping chamber” of the heart.

He was dead by the time paramedics and police arrived.

Locke returned to his flat and asked Miss Hadlow to wash his blood-soaked clothes.

He went to a window and threw the knife into the garden.

Locke, who denied murder and manslaughter, claimed he acted in self-defence after he was attacked by Mr Farnes.

He said of the stabbing: “I dropped the knife in shock. There was blood everywhere. I punched him three times in the face.”

Judge Griffith-Jones told Locke his hands were tied on the sentence to be passed, which was mandatory life imprisonment. He added he would only have to decide the minimum term to be served.

Locke told the jury: “I wasn’t in a good place. I was using cocaine and cannabis.”

Locke admitted he did not react very well some times when Mr Farnes banged on the ceiling.

“I didn’t always react,” he said. “Sometimes I would bang a couple of times and say ‘What’s the effing problem?’

I said once: ‘If you are such a big man, come and tell us what the problem is.’

“You can’t get anywhere around the flat without making some sort of noise.

Locke wept as he said he only had a vague recollection of events leading up to the stabbing.

He claimed after an exchange about the noise, Mr Farnes had knocked on his door and when he opened it he was struck in the face.

“I got my fishing knife,” he said. “It was down by the front door. I grabbed it to protect myself and prevent him from coming in. I put my left hand out and pushed him back out of the door.

“He grabbed my right wrist. I got dragged along the wall outside the house. I got my arm free and I stabbed Mr Farnes twice around the torso area.

“He fell against the wall and landed on the floor on his back. I turned around and picked up the knife. He was in the process of getting up.”

He vaguely remembered saying: “If you do that again you won’t walk around again.”

Video: Footage taken at the scene at the time

Asked by his QC Kate Lumsdon what was going through his mind when he stabbed Mr Farnes, he replied: “Just to get him away from me. I told Rebecca I had stabbed Mr Farnes. I was holding the knife.”

Asked how he felt about it now, he sobbed: “I feel bad. I feel horrible about it. It is something I really wish hadn’t happened. I can’t take back what I have done.”

Questioned by Miss Marshall, he admitted: “I lost my temper when I picked up the knife. I lost control. I lost my temper once he hit me in the face.

“It has been playing on my mind for a long time. It has been stuck in my head. I am remembering what I wish I hadn’t done.”

David Skelton, senior crown prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “The defendant made a number of different admissions after he attacked Gordon Farnes, regularly contradicting himself.

“Amongst his many claims were that he acted in self-defence and that he had been attacked by the victim. The prosecution was able to demonstrate these were lies.

“There was no forensic evidence to suggest that the victim had inflicted any injuries before he was killed and, rather than acting in self-defence, the defendant made a conscious decision to pick up the murder weapon, before leaving his property to commit this offence.

“The truth was that Locke lost his temper and was intent on killing his victim or at least inflicting serious injury on him and he has now been brought to justice for his actions.”