BOMB THREAT LIES ORDEAL
Feuding neighbours’ false claims led to couple’s arrest
An innocent couple were questioned by police after neighbours made false arson threat claims against them during a bitter feud.
Amanda Peverley spent some of her 30th birthday behind bars and her partner John Miles was interviewed over fake claims that they had threatened to burn down or petrol bomb the house next door.
But Newcastle Crown Court heard the lies told to the police by neighbours Jaqueline and Colin Steel were exposed by a council CCTV camera, which proved the threats they had claimed were made against them were completely untrue.
By then, police had wasted 145 hours investigating the fake claims and Miss Peverley and Mr Miles were left traumatised by their ordeals after being wrongly accused.
The court heard the Steels had claimed Miss Peverley and Mr Miles had stood on a grassed area outside their homes at Allendale Square, Sunderland, and shouted the sinister arson threats in October 2015.
But prosecutor Angus Taylor said CCTV and audio footage from a camera on one of the neighbouring houses “obliterated” the story and showed Miss Peverley actually on the phone to Northumbria Police, making a report about damage to her car – making no threats.
In a victim statement, Miss Peverley said she had plans to celebrate her birthday on the day she was arrested and added: “My youngest child cried for two hours that day, he was frightened I had been taken away.”
Mr Miles, who was questioned but not arrested, said he was “angry and upset” .
He said: “If not for the camera, we would both probably have ended up in court and possibly lost our house.”
Jaqueline Steel, 55, and Colin Steel, 57, both of Allendale Square, admitted perverting the course of justice.
Judge Spragg sentenced both of them to 27 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with a threemonth night-time curfew.
Jonathan Harley, defending Jaqueline Steel, said there had been a history of complaints from “both sides” between the warring neighbours about anti-social behaviour and criminal offences.
“My youngest child cried for two hours that day” AMANDA PEVERLEY