A family who suffered racist abuse from a neighbour have spoken out about their ordeal.

Former fire chief James Todd threatened and shouted racist abuse at John and Peggy West, after a dispute about rocks outside his home in Barnes Lane, Kings Langley, last August.

The 62-year-old was found guilty of one charge of racially aggravated threatening behaviour and one charge of threatening behaviour at St Albans Magistrates Court on June 30.

Todd, who was the longest serving firefighter in Hertfordshire when he left after 37 years in 2011, was fined £1,100.

The couple’s 18-year-old son, Nathaniel, recorded part of the altercation on his phone.

The video. (Warning: contains offensive language)

Mr West, 67, said: “He thinks our son had moved his stones and was effing and blinding, and calling us all names under the sun.

“He was screaming at us and was extremely abusive to Peggy. He was very threatening to all of us, telling us ‘you don’t know what will happen to you’.

“We have to get on with our lives but it’s very uncomfortable.”

Mr West, who has lived in Barnes Lane for almost 30 years, says he and Mr Todd had always got along until a dispute over a planning application in 2013.

Mr West said: “Tension had been building for a few years, but it all came to a head when he accused us of moving his stones.

“It’s ridiculous. Even if my son had moved the stones – which he hadn’t – it certainly wouldn’t merit that sort of disgusting behaviour.

“This is my home and I love it here, I’m close to retiring. It’s horrible to feel uncomfortable leaving your own drive.”

Todd said in a statement he was defending himself in "a minor argument".

He said that he had been a respected member of society and served his community for 37 years, and said he felt he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Todd was fined a total of £450 for both offences, a victim surcharge of £30 and Crown Prosecution Service costs of £620.