Bush war! Neighbour is spared jail in feud over a giant bamboo
A WOMAN who was sending her neighbours “insane” avoided jail yesterday for breaching a restraining order to trim a plant.
Mary De Jong, 68, placed a fast-growing bamboo plant in front of Stephen Johnston’s window in a shared garden and fitted CCTV cameras aimed at his house in a feud, a court heard.
She was warned that she will be sent to jail if she continues to ignore the order as she was dubbed “Britain’s worst neighbour” in the four-year battle.
De Jong fell out with Mr Johnston and fellow neighbour Elizabeth Kingston, 74.
Mr Johnston, a retired university lecturer, said that the plant appeared after he backed Mrs Kingston with “bullying” claims in her separate dispute with De Jong over the property in Topsham, Devon.
Denied
Her behaviour was described in court as akin to “Chinese water torture” with De Jong “turning on the tap with poor Stephen Johnston slowly going insane”.
De Jong denied two breaches of a restraining order but a jury took less than 30 minutes to find her guilty of both charges.
After the earlier trial at Exeter Crown Court, De Jong continued to dispute the verdict.
But Judge Peter Johnson sentenced her to community service and made her the subject of a stricter restraining order – warning her she came close to an immediate custodial sentence. He told her: “You are 68 years of age and live in close proximity to neighbours. It seems clear to me you were hellbent on making Mr Johnston’s life a misery.”
De Jong was given a 12-month community order that includes 200 hours of community service and told to pay £2,800 in costs.
The court heard the neighbours were amicable until 2015 but things escalated with a series of criminal and civil proceedings.
Mr Johnston said the plant “did grow extraordinarily vigorously, and slowly but surely it grew and grew and covered a large proportion of my kitchen window”. He added: “It was quite clear this was being done on purpose.”
Defence lawyer Paul Dentith said that De Jong’s car had twice been destroyed by arson, but there was no suggestion the two neighbours were involved.
He said: “The impact on her has been significant and has left her frightened to leave her own home.”
Outside court, Ms Kingston said she has been forced to endure a living hell at the hands of Mary De Jong.
She said: “I would definitely describe her as Britain’s worst neighbour. It has been constant every day... and had to come to an end before we went insane.”