Vile Threats: 'If I see that cat again, I will kill it'

A video has captured the astonishing moment a financier threatened to kill his neighbour's cat and branded him a 'nasty little man' in a furious bust-up over a tiny washing machine cupboard in exclusive Knightsbridge.

Video filmed by Dr Lyudmil Zyapkov shows financial consultant Anthony Knight yelling at him before threatening to murder his pet as a dispute over ownership of the small cupboard got out of hand.

Mr Knight, 72, and his wife Angela, 69, have owned the undecorated storage area containing a washing machine and dryer - wedged between their properties and accessible via an outside door - since they moved into their home on Ennismore Gardens Mews near Harrods in 1995.

The couple used it to store their children's sports equipment but it has stood unused since 2010 after their kids left home.

But eight years later, they discovered it had been secretly bricked up from the inside by a previous owner and turned into a utilities space for the neighbouring basement flat, now owned by Bank of America analyst Dr Zyapkov and his naval engineer wife Juliana Grigore.

What followed was a series of spats between the neighbours, with Mr Knight placing his bins outside his neighbour's patio door and Dr Zyapkov becoming 'obsessed' with hanging onto the neighbour.

In two exchanges, video obtained exclusively by MailOnline shows Mr Knight branding Dr Zyapkov a 'nasty little man' and threatening to kill his cat Bandit if the pet was let into the outside space.

But a judge ruled that the cupboard be returned to Mr Knight, telling the pair their passions had got 'out of proportion' and ordering Dr Zyapkov to pay Mr Knight's £50,000 legal costs, as well as his own £52,000 bill.

Dr Zyapkov and Ms Grigore live in a basement flat of 34 Ennismore Gardens, a large four storey mansion, which backs onto Ennismore Gardens Mews. The cupboard at the centre of the neighbour dispute is located in the toilet at the far end of the flat and backs onto an area shared by the Knights' mews home and the apartments of 34 Ennismore Gardens.

The area, which cannot be built upon, also houses a fire escape for residents of 34 Ennismore Gardens.

Speaking outside his home in the one of the most exclusive streets in London, Mr Knight claimed he had tried and failed to reason with the couple over ownership of the tiny wall space, which he claims is valued at up to £75,000.

Judge Jan Luba KC ruled in favour of the Knights at the Central London County Court.

Ms Grigore said: 'Mr Knight is a fantasist.

'The judge awarded Mr Knight ownership of the cupboard, but we are going to appeal this decision.

'We refuse to be screamed at, shouted at, harassed and threatened.

'We inherited this problem. We did not create it; it was done by the previous occupants.

'When we found out about it, we tried to sort it out. But you can't reason with people like him.

'The cupboard is worth £17,000. But we offered Mr Knight £65,000 for it. But he refused. He said he was going to buy my flat and get his property back that way. But my home is not for sale.

'He threatened to kill our cat Bandit. We don't have children, so he is very special to us.

'We are considering selling the flat because how can we live next door to a man like that?'