A MAN who stabbed his next-door neighbour to death after a row over noisy DIY was starting a life sentence for murder last night.

Christopher Hoyland, 42, plunged a kitchen knife into electrician George Evans' neck when he answered the door of his Middlesbrough home.

A diary recovered from Hoyland's house contained entries in the days leading up to the murder in November including: "George next door has been pushing me over the edge - the noise."

Teesside Crown Court heard that Hoyland had been left brain-damaged after he was attacked in the town in July 2001, leaving him prone to aggression and impulsive behaviour.

He also developed hyper-sensitivity to noise.

His barrister, Aidan Marron, said: "His character, personality and quality of life changed dramatically.

"In the absence of that assault, the probability is that he would not be in this court."

Hoyland had denied responsibility for the killing, claiming he had been walking his sister's dog at the time. But last month, a jury found him guilty of murder.

The court heard he had attacked Mr Evans, 48, at his home in St Barnabas Road, and left him dying in a pool of blood after becoming increasingly annoyed over noise.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, said it was an extraordinary case and he took into account the findings of a neurologist and a doctor that Hoyland was brain damaged.

He said he could only pass a life sentence but recommended he serve ten years and be assessed for risk to members of the public before he was released.

Judge Fox said: "You lost your temper at the noise he was making by drilling into the partition wall.

"You took a kitchen knife and you went to his house and when he answered the door you struck him with a single blow.

"It was a fatal, dreadful offence."