A BURBAGE property manager is facing a community sentence after admitting setting fire to a motorbike belonging to a tenant with whom he was in dispute.

Stuart Cluny, 51, of Wolfhall Manor, pleaded guilty to setting fire to the £3,500 Honda 500cc bike on July 6 at the culmination of an acrimonious six-month dispute which is still the subject of civil proceedings.

The tenant, Clayton Knight-Tuck, returned to Wolfhall Manor, where he and his partner had been living in the north wing for the previous two and a half years, to find the bike had been dragged a short distance to an old sofa where it had been set on fire and destroyed.

Rachel Hume, prosecuting, said that Mr Knight-Tuck had no idea who had destroyed the bike because at no time during the six-month dispute had either Cluny or his partner, whose family has owned Wolfhall Manor for 600 years, made any threat to damage their property.

But police discovered that an operator at police headquarters had received a call from Cluny's partner, complaining the tenants' belongings were still in place and threatening to burn the bike.

Mrs Hume said: "She was not making much sense to the operator so the call ended."

But the police decided to speak to Cluny, who then admitted dragging the bike to the sofa, dousing both with petrol, covering them with a tarpaulin and setting fire to the pile.

Cluny told police it was the culmination of the ongoing dispute.

It had made him distressed and depressed, which led to him having to take anti-depressants and receive counselling.

Malcolm Wieck, defending, said that the pressure on Cluny and his partner, who is a semi-invalid, had been tremendous.

He said the long and acrimonious dispute had led to medical problems for Cluny.

He showed the magistrates a letter from Cluny's GP saying that the resulting medical condition meant he was not responsible for his actions.

Presiding magistrate Jackie Lampard called for a pre-sentence report and said she and her colleagues were looking at a low-to-medium period of community punishment.

The case was adjourned to August 23 at Salisbury Magistrates Court. Cluny was released on unconditional bail.