Grandparents are fined
AN ELDERLY couple who called their daughter “abuser of the year” when she restricted access to their grandchildren have earned themselves criminal records and a fine of £2,000.
Retired pharmacist Steven Freedman, 76, and his wife Hedy, 72, sent a letter containing the message to their daughter on her birthday, along with an email printed out from “Alienated Grandparents Anonymous” (AGA).
The couple had earlier fallen out with Danielle Hampson but she sent them a cut-out of a JC article in which she was named in the top ten of the Mensch of the Year competition.
Citing the “alarm and distress” this caused him, Mr Freedman put together his own message sent it in retaliation.
MrandMrsFreedman—respectedfigures in Liverpool’s Jewish community — were fined by magistrates in the city on Wednesday for sending an indecent or “grossly offensive” letter. Ms Hampson, 46, said the letter left her “petrified”.
After pleading guilty, Mr Freedman was fined £1,600 and ordered to pay costs of £235. Mrs Freedman was fined £400 and ordered to pay costs of £110.
The court heard the family feud escalated in 2014 when the Freedmans “mystifyingly” fell out with their only child, an NSPCC volunteer and psychotherapist, and she stopped them having direct contact with her two children, aged seven and ten.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Hampson, a Jewish Women’s Aid volunteer, said: “I am constantly worried I will bump into or see my parents. My mother has developed an unhealthy fixated behaviour towards my children.”
Defence solicitor Julian Linskill called it a tragic case, arguing that the Freedmans’s punishment was knowing they were unlikely to see their grandchildren again.
District Judge Andrew Shaw told the Freedmans:“MsHampsonfoundtheletter very hurtful. It’s hard to say it can be sent with any other intent. Mr and Mrs Freedman both bear equal responsibly for the actual act involving the letter. The actions were mean.”
An application by Ms Hampson for a restraining order was rejected. Mr and Mrs Freedman declined to comment.
MsHampson was on the JC’s Mensch of the Year shortlist