A former local newspaper journalist says he is willing to spend £15,000 defending himself in court against an application for an anti-social behaviour order.

Christopher Perry, 65, of Driffield, Yorkshire, became the subject of an interim order after allegations he had become a public nuisance.

The Yorkshire Evening Post reports that the alleged anti-social behaviour is largely centred around articles he published on local website Woldseyeview.com, which has now been taken down.

The website contained articles from the Wetwang area of the county written by Mr Perry, who told a Post reporter he has worked in the press for years and was a former journalist on the St Helens Reporter newspaper.

Police got involved days after he published excerpts on his website from a document called The Thin Yellow Line, written by a traffic warden in Driffield.

Aggrieved parties include a former police inspector, a local church minister and a former Mayor.

The order bans him from behaviour that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and was extended until a trial in January by District Judge Fred Rutherford at Hull Magistrates Court on Friday.

Outside the court Mr Perry, who is being supported by the National Union of Journalists, told Post reporter Alex Ward: “I was doing the job any decent citizen would do, let alone a journalist.”

The order also states that he must not make any direct or indirect approach to, or contact, whether verbally face-to-face, by gesture or intimation, by telephone, in writing, including any note, letter or card or by text message, email, or through any third party the three unless the contact is ‘wholly inadvertent’.

Humberside Police told the Yorkshire Post that they were not in a position to comment on the case.