Connery hit with £16m lawsuit

Sir Sean Connery has been hit with a multi-million pound lawsuit by neighbours who claim he is making their lives a living hell, it emerged today.

The 74-year-old Scot has enraged his exclusive New York neighbours who have accused him of allowing workers to create a deafening noise, fumes, dripping water and an infestation of rats, not to mention loud music allegedly played at all hours.

In a £15.7 million (30million dollars) lawsuit Dr Burton Sultan claims construction work has "wreaked havoc on (his) collection of museum-quality Victorian and early 20th-century wicker furniture ... irreparably damaged by water, falling plaster and black soot and grime".

Sir Sean has lived in the Manhattan apartment, owned by his son Stephane, since April 2001, according to the New York Daily News.

The newspaper reports that the suit, filed by lawyers Engel & McCarney, describes an alleged incident when Dr Sultan's daughter knocked on the veteran actor's door to ask him to turn the music down.

"Connery himself answered the door in his bathrobe, unkempt and dishevelled," it claims.

"Scarcely, or in any event, no longer 'the sexiest man alive' portrayed in the tabloids and bearing no resemblance to the superspy who announced himself as 'Bond - James Bond,' Connery's appearance and behaviour was that of a rude, foul-mouthed, fat old man," it says.

Dr Sultan accuses Sir Sean of trying to force his family off the premises so he can acquire the property at a knock-down price.

New York-based Engel & McCarney confirmed the suit had been filed. Sir Sean's spokeswoman was unavailable for comment.