A BOAT owner currently on trial accused of setting fire to his vessel is also accused of telling a woman he’d ‘f*** her up’.

James Jonas is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with several offences, including one count of arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered.

It is alleged that the 38-year-old set his boat, The Happy Go Lucky, on fire on August 19 last year in the Duke’s Cut Waterway canal after a dispute with his neighbour, David Hartland.

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A jury heard that Jonas allegedly owned Mr Hartland money and the pair had an informal agreement that if he didn’t pay, Mr Hartland would take ownership of his boat.

During the ongoing trial on Thursday (April 18), it was also heard that Jonas is charged with one count of harassment after an alleged incident on October 10, two months after the reported arson incident.

Giving evidence from the stand the woman said she was cycling along the towpath near the Gosford area when she allegedly heard Jonas shouting.

She said: “He was shouting and pointing at the opposite field but at that point I couldn’t figure out what he was saying.

“I got off my bike because I was worried that when he approached he would push me off the bike.

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“I didn’t say anything to him but he turned and said, ‘I’ll f*** you up you know that’. He wasn’t shouting but he was quite aggressive.

“I felt quite scared at that point.”

She said she knew the man was Jonas because she had been told that he had allegedly set his boat on fire a few months and prior and reportedly had an order preventing him from entering the towpath.

The woman then called the police and was later called to Abingdon Police Station to take part in an identity parade.

Earlier in the trial, it was heard that Jonas had reportedly told police he had flicked a cigarette onto his boat, setting it on fire, before attempting to flee police by jumping into a canal.

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However,  due to the damage of the boat, a full investigation was unable to be carried out.

Jonas, of Woodstock Road, Oxford, was also charged with one count each of assault by beating of Mr Hartland, assault of an emergency worker, assault occasioning actual bodily harm of William Cross and intimidation of Mr Hartland knowing he would be a witness in impending proceedings.

He has denied all offences and the trial continues.