A NEIGHBOUR from hell who was placed on a 'name and shame' police website after being sentenced to six months in prison for harassment, claims he is being victimised.

Arthur de Val was given an indefinite anti-social behaviour order by magistrates and jailed for six months in April, but has been freed pending an appeal.

Following his conviction, the 63 year old from Twickenham Road in Newton Abbot had his photo and details put on the Devon and Cornwall police website.

Mr De Val, who was convicted of seven counts of harassment, features in the Asbo section of the Devon and Cornwall Police's Court and Convicted section.

Mr De Val now believes the police should have removed his face from their site pending the outcome of his appeal against the prison sentence.

Mr De Val, who spent four days in prison before his release on bail pending his appeal hearing, said: "They are demonising me unfairly. It is absolutely despicable and vindictive.

"I strongly feel the police should not have done this until the matter had been completed. I feel victimised."

The police force said the Court and Convicted pages were aimed at 'reassuring communities action is being taken to bring offenders to justice'.

A police spokesman defended their decision to feature the pages on their website, saying: "There is a lot of work we do to arrest people and working with other agencies to bring people to justice.

"Court and Convicted is about reassuring communities we take their concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour seriously and are taking positive action to make our communities safer.

"From our consultation with the public it is clear we are quite reticent about giving them this information which in turn can adversely impact on public confidence.

"They experience or hear about the crime, but don't always hear about the outcomes."

Victims of Mr De Val said his complaining he was being abused and victimised was 'a bit rich'.

Mr De Val added: "Watching the news yesterday the impression I had is that the police have had a public relations problem and they have lost the confidence of the public.

"They are doing this exercise to try to brag about what they have allegedly achieved to show the public they are doing their job."

Barry Hall, from Swanborough Avenue in Newton Abbot, was one of Mr De Val's victims who testified against him in court.

He said: "He's just pulling a fast one as he always does. He thinks 22 of us are liars and he is the victim. He's just an awful piece of work."

And councillor and next door neighbour Colin Parker said: "He was convicted of nine offences.

"The magistrates themselves called him a liar so for him to say all this is not true is a bit rich.

"He has the nerve to say it has affected his health.

"He is not a very nice man. All this has been going on for 20 years and our lives have been a misery."