The compost heap plotter who dished the dirt on his millionaire neighbour

The problem was that the pile of garden waste was close to their front door and the smell was wafting into their £1million home.

But neighbour Tobi Butler did not take kindly to the criticism.

And when a letter to Mr Koska - a millionaire inventor who was awarded the OBE last year - was mistakenly posted through Butler's letterbox, he took the opportunity for revenge.

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The letter was from the Koskas' building society, warning they were more than £7,000 in arrears on their mortgage and they faced having their home repossessed.

Butler, 37, a £90,000-a-year businessman, made 50 copies of the letter.

He added a handwritten note to each, saying the Koskas could not be trusted, and posted them to their friends, neighbours, business associates and their daughters' fee-paying school.

Local Tory MP Charles Hendry was among the recipients.

The letters caused the Koskas enormous distress and embarrassment.

Their finances were in fact in good shape and the mortgage arrears were due simply to a dispute over switching lenders.

Butler, a father- of-two, was arrested after his fingerprints were found on the letters.

Yesterday, he was sentenced to 200 hours' community work and ordered to pay £1,200 costs after admitting the theft of the letter.

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Lewes Crown Court heard that the letter was wrongly delivered to Butler's £400,000 home in Furners Green, near Uckfield, East Sussex, in May last year.

His counsel, Sara-Lise Howe, said: "Because of the dispute between the Koskas and himself at the time he foolishly decided to copy and circulate the letter.

"There had been problems over his dogs and a compost heap."

Prosecutor Tony Stanford said: "The Koskas say they were caused considerable distress as a result of having this information published.

"They may have been in arrears, but not because they were in dire financial circumstances, because they were changing mortgage companies.

Sentencing Butler, Judge Anthony Scott- Gall told him: "This was a very mean, nasty little thing to do. You used this letter and its contents as part of a campaign against Mr Koska.

"You circulated it to those in business with him, friends and neighbours to show him up as a man of straw.'

Mr Koska, 46, was awarded the OBE last year after he invented a syringe that can be used only once, preventing the spread of HIV and other infections.

It also cuts the risk of healthcare workers suffering needlestick injuries.

His wife, a 40-year-old illustrator, said after the hearing that Butler's compost heap "stunk like hell".

She added: "It was foul, so Marc sent him an email asking him to move it.

"Tobi just refused to do anything about it. Every time he had visitors he would go over and stir it up, which was not very nice.

"As far as he was concerned the compost heap was going to stay and he wasn't going to budge."

Mrs Koska said Butler also annoyed them and other neighbours by playing loud music, shouting abuse at walkers and pumping waste water from his Jacuzzi over a next-door garden.

In March, he was threatened with an Asbo. But magistrates in Lewes rejected the application.

Mrs Koska added: "I really do feel justice has been done and I hope that this will deter him from doing anything like this to anyone else.

"This caused us considerable distress and embarrassment for no good reason.

"I think he is a very sad individual who lacks the ability to behave in a responsible manner towards society.

"I hope this will educate him on what is acceptable and not acceptable in his local community."