A MAN accused of breaching a restraining order by clapping and insulting his neighbours claimed he had actually been talking about the TV show Ugly Betty when his words were overheard.

Keith Quartermain, of Austin Place in Abingdon, is banned from insulting or harassing his neighbours.

Yesterday at Oxford Crown Court he told jurors he had been talking to a friend on his mobile phone about the TV show when he said the words: “Isn’t she ugly? Ugly. Ugly.”

The 67-year-old is accused of directing the words at his neighbour Catherine Fillier and so breaching the his restraining order.

But when asked if those words were aimed at Mrs Fillier, Quartermain said: “It certainly was not. I don’t have anything to do with them whatsoever – I keep a wide berth of them.”

He also denies breaching the order by clapping.

Quartermain said: “I’ve not clapped at all.

“I try to keep as quiet as I can in the house. No one hears me. I come and go and I’m out with the dog most of the time.”

He added that despite his dispute with Mrs Fillier he got on well with other neighbours in the road.

The trial continues.