A pensioner has been handed a suspended sentence for storing up his own faeces for two months and driving 200 miles to deposit it through his former friend’s front door.

Geoffrey Holroyd-Doveton, 75, covered the hallway, staircase and carpet of Donald Wick’s Braintree home in excrement during the late night attack.

At Ipswich Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday Holroyd-Doveton was given an eight week suspended sentence and ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work.

Prosecutor Lesla Small said he had travelled down from South Yorkshire to get his revenge while Mr Wicks and his husband Richard were away on holiday.

She said: “It would seem that the defendant defecated into a container and kept that for six to eight weeks.

“Using that pump he has pushed the excrement through the letter box causing that to splatter over the hallway, up the stairs and onto the back wall.”

On January 1 this year, Holroyd-Doveton approached the Wicks’ home and assembled his home-made pump.

He used this machine to spray his own excrement inside.

Mr Wicks’ secretary found the mess the next day when she went to check on the house.

At court, Holroyd-Doveton, of Rotherham, South Yorks, pleaded guilty to criminal damage worth £4,000.

Emily Hughes, mitigating, said the pensioner had felt isolated and depressed following his divorce when he had to move from his home in Braintree.

She described him as being “incredibly sorry for his actions”.

Presiding magistrate Michael Cadman said it was as bad an offence as he had seen in his 30 years in the role.

Holroyd-Doveton was also given an indeterminate restraining order not to contact or go within one mile of the Wicks’ home, and was made to pay £500 to each of them in compensation.

Dc Dave Smith from Braintree CID, said: “This was a really horrible premeditated incident which caused significant distress to the victims, and damage to the property.

“The excrement landed on a carpet, with enough pressure that it also hit the door at the end of the hallway. All the carpet had to be replaced and the walls redecorated due to the quantity of faeces.

“Mr Holroyd-Doveton’s actions were clearly intended to provoke and shock and he has shown no remorse for his actions. 

"I hope that he continues to reflect on his behaviour, which quite frankly, was deplorable.

“I am pleased that we have brought the matter to a close for the victims."