Judge upholds ban against neighbour

‘Unfounded accusations support need for order’ Exclusive

A pensioner branded blinkered and obsessive has lost his latest battle to have a court ban scrapped.

Ronald Reeves has been locked in a 11-year dispute with neighbours in the village of Kingston.

The 77-year-old has made complaints against the Bakers and the Macdonalds, the police and even a barrister.

His behaviour led to him being jailed and the court imposing restrictions on where he could travel in the village.

Now he has made a new bid for the court ban to be lifted after Judge Simon James heard there had been no trouble during the past seven years.

But after listening to the application, the judge allowed only a minor adjustment to the order on where Reeves, of Marley Lane, could travel.

He refused to lift the order after telling him: “What has been said by Mr Reeves today and the way it has been said are indicative of an individual with no insight and who has an obsessional nature.

“His assertions of impropriety and bias extend, not simply to those protected by this order, but to a senior police officer, counsel to the prosecution and, indeed, my handling of the case.

“Mr Reeves’ general and liberal tendency towards making serious and unfounded and unjustified accusations seem to me to provide an insight into his character, which only support the need for the continuance of the order.”

Judge James added that the existence of the order was essential to prevent matters “deteriorating back to the sorry state of affairs” before Reeves went to jail.

Reeves, who represented himself, had been made subject to a restraining order in 2006 and was jailed in 2009 for breaking it.

Since then he has accused Mr and Mrs Baker, who had bought land from Reeves’ ex wife Eileen, of carrying out a “vendetta” against him.

But earlier the court heard that in 2004 and 2005 the Bakers were subjected to obscene abuse and gestures from Reeves, were woken in the early hours, blocked by his car on the road and were also the subject of a malicious letter written about Mr Baker by Reeves, who then distributed it to every home in the village.

The judge heard from the couple, who wrote: “Since this order was granted the problems we have had over many years as a result of harassment by RR have ended.”

And their neighbours, the Macdonalds, added: “Since the imposition of the order we have been able to lead our lives in peace.”

Ronald Reeves, the judge said, had a tendency towards serious and unfounded accusations