The fat lady sings for nuisance neighbour
Neighbour’s campaign of harassment included spy cameras, music on loop and a picture up a flagpole
EVERY day, when Jennifer Anderson went to and from her home, she was taunted by a figurine of a reclining, overweight lady, which she knew resembled her.
The clay ornament, dressed in a blue striped swimsuit that looked just like a dress she owned, was placed to ensure she saw it every time she passed through her front door.
For Mrs Anderson, 61, it was the final straw. For years, she and her partner David Smith, 59, a former Royal Protection Squad bodyguard, were subjected to a campaign of harassment by their next-door neighbour, Barry Carr.
It was the last thing the couple expected when they moved to a cul-desac in Fleetwood, Lancs, five years ago.
But within months, Carr, a wealthy pensioner, had set up cameras to film them day in, day out, they claimed.
Carr, 66, whose property was surrounded by 19 cameras, some with infrared night vision, also pointed a false camera with a red flashing light into their kitchen.
He played two songs, Jealousy and Strange Lady in Town by Frankie Laine, continually on a loop through a loudspeaker. The music was so loud, Mrs Anderson said she was unable to venture into her own garden.
Carr erected a 20ft flagpole, securing a large photograph of Mr Smith at the top. He littered his garden with ornaments such as chattering false teeth and attached an owl to his chimney with a camera inside it, Blackpool Magistrates’ Court heard. He stuck a bow tie on a skull that could be seen by the couple when they left their property, which they felt was to mimic
Mr Smith, a security manager, who often wore a dinner suit and bow tie when he worked at night.
The couple decided to try to block Carr’s view by raising the fence between their homes by 6ft. However, Carr responded by fastening his litany of ornaments and a poster of Mr Smith to his fascia boards. When police asked him to remove the picture on his flagpole, Carr refused. Miss Anderson said they had moved into the property five years ago and while the first six months passed without incident, they then realised Carr was filming them “day in, day out, 365 days a year”. The camera caught a confrontation when Mr Smith shoved Carr.
Miss Anderson said: “The next thing is that a figurine of a fat lady in a blue stripy dress like one I wear has been put on his windowsill looking at me all the time. This man has tormented me. He knows that figurine looks like me. “When we put up the fence he moved things higher and drilled holes in the fence.”
Mr Smith said Carr told him that because they rented their property they were “bringing the neighbourhood down”. “He tried games like putting a bundle of £10 notes in a bush near our garden, like he was trying to tempt us to take the money and he would have it on film,” he added. Sarah Perkins, prosecuting, said: “His behaviour has become worrying, strange and obsessive. It has caused alarm and distress.”
Carr, who ran fish and chip shops before retiring, said he believed his neighbours envied his wealth. After a two-day trial he was found guilty of harassing the couple. David Hearton, the bench chairman, said: “It was like the dripping tap syndrome – time after time after time causing stress and distress.”
Carr was given a 10-week jail term suspended for a year and was ordered to pay his victims £200 each in compensation and £900 court costs. He must not communicate with his neighbours, display photos of them or point camera at their home.