A neighbour from hell bombarded a cafe owner with croissants and popcorn during a seven-year hate campaign.

Hairdresser Alison Lithgow also played non-stop karaoke music loudly in her flat above Marisa Zecchino’s bistro.

The 54-year-old deliberately flooded the kitchen of Rustico’s cafe more than 10 times and even built a 16ft-high and 100ft-long fence which obstructed its delivery area and fire escape.

Now Lithgow has been banned from coming within 15ft of the cafe, approaching 46-year-old Marisa and disrupting her clientele.

Her behaviour was branded “childish and irrational” by a sheriff during a hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court .

The court also heard that Lithgow had even hired a private detective to spy on Rustico’s in the city’s Mount Vernon.

Lithgow claimed the croissants had been put on the windowsill by a friend
to feed birds – which was described as “ludicrous” by Sheriff Anthony Deutsch.

Alison Lithgow spent seven-years terrorising Rustico cafe and its owner, Marisa Zecchino (Image: Mark Anderson)

She also made numerous unjustified calls to Glasgow City Council and fire safety officers about noise, outdoor seating and cooking smells.

Sheriff Deutsch said: “It is impossible to conceive of any circumstances where it would have been reasonable to deliberately flood Mrs Zecchino’s kitchen or use a karaoke machine to create a noise nuisance.

“It could never be reasonable for Miss Lithgow to directly harass Mrs Zecchino and her staff, customers and tradesmen.

“The evidence overwhelmingly establishes that since 2011 Miss Lithgow has pursued a course of conduct against Mrs Zecchino amounting to harassment.”

Police Constable Atief Arshad told the court that between 2011 and 2015 Lithgow made a large number of calls to police alleging Marisa was playing loud music after hours. None of the calls resulted in any action being taken.

Paul McGillvray, of Glasgow City Council’s planning department, described the complaints received from Lithgow as “quite unusual”. He said he visited the cafe 15 times and never found any breach of planning regulations.

Sheriff Deutsch described Lithgow’s evidence as “full of evasions and inconsistencies”, adding she was not “credible or reliable”.

He added: “Miss Lithgow’s conduct has caused Mrs Zecchino alarm, distress, inconvenience and disruption to her business.”

The order barring Lithgow has no time limit. Both women declined to comment.

A friend of Lithgow said: “Alison is planning to appeal.”

Lithgow denied flooding the cafe or throwing anything at Marisa and said she erected the fence – which was eventually removed – to make her flat more attractive to potential tenants. She said the authorities “were simply not doing their job properly” when they failed to uphold any of her complaints.