Nasty Neighbours

[Mythopoeika]

It would have been cheaper to get satellite TV.

 

[ramonmercado]

I'm sure the Daily Mail will support this fine fellow.

Maths teacher made Nazi taunts to German neighbours
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-17434258

Speaking after the verdict, Kathryn and Reinhard Wendt said they were considering moving house

A maths teacher has been found guilty of harassing his German neighbours by playing wartime classics and performing a Nazi salute.

Geoffrey Butler, 54, subjected Reinhard and Kathryn Wendt to years of "misery", Medway Magistrates' Court was told.

The court heard he played Vera Lynn's White Cliffs Of Dover, the Dambusters theme tune, Rule Britannia and a Winston Churchill speech.

Butler, of Lower Upnor, Kent, was given a three-year conditional discharge.

He was spared jail at the request of his neighbours, who said they did not want vengeance.

'Whistling Dambusters'

Butler was also given a restraining order banning him from playing loud music and being threatening, abusive or insulting towards the couple.

The court heard the relationship between Butler and the Wendts turned sour shortly after they moved next door to the teacher in the village near Rochester in 2007.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

We have had nightmares and have not been sleeping”

Kathryn Wendt
Barrister Thomas Daniel referred to several incidents between July 2007 and April 2011 where Butler is alleged to have harassed the couple.

Butler said he did not own any Dad's Army-style music and that he never played music from his house.

The teacher was asked about whistling the Dambusters tune in the sight of his neighbours, but he told the court he could not whistle.

Alistair Dickson, prosecuting, said: "It sounds as though you do not like Mr Wendt very much."

Butler replied: "What do you expect? I have wasted 10 months of my life over this."

Speaking outside the court Mr and Mrs Wendt said they were too frightened to go on living opposite Butler and would have to move.

Mrs Wendt said: "It has been hell. It has been awful.

"We have had nightmares and have not been sleeping. I have just been so upset."

Butler refused to comment as he left the court.

 

[ramonmercado]

I'm sure the Daily Mail will support this fine fellow.

Maths teacher made Nazi taunts to German neighbours
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-17434258

Speaking after the verdict, Kathryn and Reinhard Wendt said they were considering moving house

A maths teacher has been found guilty of harassing his German neighbours by playing wartime classics and performing a Nazi salute.

Geoffrey Butler, 54, subjected Reinhard and Kathryn Wendt to years of "misery", Medway Magistrates' Court was told.

The court heard he played Vera Lynn's White Cliffs Of Dover, the Dambusters theme tune, Rule Britannia and a Winston Churchill speech.

Butler, of Lower Upnor, Kent, was given a three-year conditional discharge.

He was spared jail at the request of his neighbours, who said they did not want vengeance.

'Whistling Dambusters'

Butler was also given a restraining order banning him from playing loud music and being threatening, abusive or insulting towards the couple.

The court heard the relationship between Butler and the Wendts turned sour shortly after they moved next door to the teacher in the village near Rochester in 2007.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

We have had nightmares and have not been sleeping”

Kathryn Wendt
Barrister Thomas Daniel referred to several incidents between July 2007 and April 2011 where Butler is alleged to have harassed the couple.

Butler said he did not own any Dad's Army-style music and that he never played music from his house.

The teacher was asked about whistling the Dambusters tune in the sight of his neighbours, but he told the court he could not whistle.

Alistair Dickson, prosecuting, said: "It sounds as though you do not like Mr Wendt very much."

Butler replied: "What do you expect? I have wasted 10 months of my life over this."

Speaking outside the court Mr and Mrs Wendt said they were too frightened to go on living opposite Butler and would have to move.

Mrs Wendt said: "It has been hell. It has been awful.

"We have had nightmares and have not been sleeping. I have just been so upset."

Butler refused to comment as he left the court.

 

[Mythopoeika]

No, they won't.

 

[rynner2]

No, they won't.

I hope not. He sounds like a total w*nker.

Butler, of Lower Upnor, Kent, was given a three-year conditional discharge.

He was spared jail at the request of his neighbours, who said they did not want vengeance.

Butler was also given a restraining order banning him from playing loud music and being threatening, abusive or insulting towards the couple.

He gives maths teachers a bad name.

(Did I mention that I was once a maths teacher?)

 

[ramonmercado]

No, they won't.

I was being facetious.

 

[rynner2]

Evicted: 'Techno Dave', the man who made his neighbours' lives a misery by playing music non-stop for TWO DAYS
By Emily Allen
PUBLISHED: 12:41, 31 July 2012 | UPDATED: 16:09, 31 July 2012

A man who terrorised his neighbours and made life a misery for many in his street has been evicted by a city council.
Since David Lea, 45, moved into his flat on Mary Carpenter Place, Bristol, in 2011, the council has received numerous complaints.
Dubbing himself Dave 'Techno' Lea, he played extremely loud music at all hours of the day and night and on one occasion his tunes blared out for two whole days.
Bristol City Council said Lea used to have 'hundreds' of visitors calling at all hours and had no regard for other residents’ peace and quiet.

Bristol County Court heard Lea racially abused a woman neighbour and members of the multi-cultural community who live nearby and allowed his dog to run out of control around the small estate of about 70 flats.
His next-door neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: 'Since he has gone, my life has changed and I am now very happy.'

Another neighbour added: 'It was so loud all the time. We could all hear it. We’re glad it’s finished now.'

Christopher Jones, the council’s anti-social behaviour case officer, said: 'Because of his appalling anti-social behaviour, we obtained an emergency injunction on April 13, 2012, to try and curb his behaviour, but within days of the injunction being granted, he breached it and was arrested.'

The courts were so appalled that they banned Lea from going within 100 metres of his flat.
But, on May 30, he breached that injunction by returning to the property, had a wild party and smashed up his flat and its contents.

The council said he has since disappeared and when a local newspaper reporter visited his former home yesterday, the door had been barricaded by the council with a metal door.
The county court notice attached said that Lea also owed the council £175 in costs.

Mr Jones said: 'Since he had totally refused to change his behaviour we applied for a possession order on his home and on July 10, 2012, District Judge Major granted the city council a seven-day outright possession order.
'This has now been executed and Mr Lea has been evicted. Residents of Mary Carpenter Place are now enjoying the peaceful surroundings and living without the fear of intimidation, loud music and abuse perpetrated by David Lea.'

Another neighbour of Mr Lea, who did not want to be named, said: 'He was clearly not very well and excess alcohol was possibly a factor in his behaviour.
'Basically, the council got him that flat and they should have known what he was like before he came here.'
The resident of more than a decade added: 'It’s a lot quieter neighbourhood now and he did upset the apple cart a bit, but he is obviously in need of help. He was a problem, but he is a great example of what the council move onto council estates.'

The council declined to comment on the neighbour’s view of the case.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z22DduWPzI

 

[Iris]

Here it seems to be trouble with ministry of Housing tenants. They buy a house in an ordinary street but the noise and mess are annoying. Some local people have moved away because they can't stand the constant noise.
The one in our court had been reasonable since everyone complained last year at the days long parties and consequent fights in the early morning but last Sunday week we were woken by screaming and yelling then loud bangs and metal doors being struck.
Looked out to see a sea of cars which started to move off when 3 police vans arrived. Of course the lights and car doors were back after they left.
Haven't heard any late night car doors during the week since. I had seen the Ministry worker arrive during the week so she's probably spoken to them again. It's lovely having a decent sleep.
Everyone else from the 18 different nationalities in our court whether owned or rented lives harmoniously.

 

[ramonmercado]

Woman Arrested Four Times For Playing AC/DC
http://news.sky.com/story/979475/woman- ... ying-ac-dc

Joyce Coffey is arrested four times in a day for blasting out a rock anthem - and attacking a relative with a cooking utensil.
4:13am UK, Saturday 01 September 2012

A US woman has been arrested four times in 26 hours for blasting AC/DC song Highway To Hell and other loud music from her home.

Joyce Coffey was given a police warning on Tuesday afternoon at her home in Epping, New Hampshire, for playing the decades-old rock track.

But officers were called back an hour later and arrested her for the same offence.

She was then held again five hours later, but was again released before she was picked up just before dawn on Wednesday for playing more loud music, including tracks by Guns N' Roses.

Police arrested her for a fourth time after her nephew said he tried to remove some of his belongings from her house and she threw a frying pan at him, hitting him in the head.

Officers said alcohol may have been a factor in Coffey's behaviour.

Coffey was jailed on Friday and a judge has recommended she uses headphones in future.

She is due back in court on October 15, officials said.

Edit to remove additional text.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Please stop this spam!

 

[ramonmercado]

Please stop this spam!

What spam?

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Do you read your posts?

 

[ramonmercado]

Do you read your posts?

The extra stuff didn't show when I was copying it., a side bar obviously.

If I regularly left extra material in then it would be worthy of a spam complaint.

But it was only a mistake, honestly.

Please don't beat me again.

Ok, I was watching Stargate Universe while I was posting just as I am now watching Cloverfield.

Blame any typos here on Robert A. Heinlein, his Starman Jones converted me to SF at 12.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

The only extra that should be there is your own take on it.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Blame any typos here on Robert A. Heinlein, his Starman Jones converted me to SF at 12.

Science Fiction. It's like a religion.

 

[ramonmercado]

Blame any typos here on Robert A. Heinlein, his Starman Jones converted me to SF at 12.

Science Fiction. It's like a religion.

Not like: IT IS!

 

[rynner2]

Man killed noisy neighbour with fish filleting knife

A man has been jailed for 10 years for stabbing his neighbour to death following a series of disputes over noise in St Helens.
Heather Dyer, 22, was stabbed three times by Paul Lyon, 46, in Chapel Street, St Helens, on 23 July, 2011.
Mr Lyon, who lived in the flat below the victim, also injured William Taylor, 25, in the attack.
He was convicted of manslaughter and unlawful wounding at Liverpool Crown Court following a three-week trial.

Lyon had made several complaints of noise issues with Miss Dyer and she had been served with an eviction notice, police said.
Lyon cited the history of noise problems as the catalyst for the incident, a spokesman added.

The trial was originally started in January but had to be abandoned after Lyon was taken ill. It began again with a new jury last month.

During the first trial the court heard Lyon confronted Miss Dyer in the early hours when she and seven friends were leaving her flat, before stabbing her three times in the chest and stomach with a fish filleting knife.
When her friends tried to intervene, William Taylor was stabbed twice.
He survived the attack following a period in intensive care at hospital.

Lyon had called police to complain about noise at 01.54 BST but was advised to contact his landlord or the local authority and officers did not attend, the original jury was told.
The court heard Lyon claimed to be acting in self defence.

Det Ch Insp Richie Salter said: "This has been a difficult and protracted investigation and our thoughts remain with the family of Heather Dyer and with William Taylor, who was seriously injured during the incident.

"I hope Heather's family now have the opportunity to move forward and grieve for their daughter and sister, and that William is now able to fully recover and move on with his life."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-me ... e-19953814

 

[ramonmercado]

If the police had turned up when they were called this wouldn't have happened. Killing her was going to far but sleep deprivation due to noise can drive people literally mad. If you've never had to suffer from this type of anti-social behaviour then you just won't understand the situation.

 

[Spudrick68]

I totally understand what you are saying there, obviously without condoning his actions.

 

[Ravenstone]

If the police had turned up when they were called this wouldn't have happened. Killing her was going to far but sleep deprivation due to noise can drive people literally mad. If you've never had to suffer from this type of anti-social behaviour then you just won't understand the situation.

Having suffered from bad neighbours on both sides for 7 years, until I was finally forced to sell and move, I can wholeheartedly agree. There is something about noise that really drives you insane. It wasn't until I was in my new house for about six months that I realised I was actually starting to relax. And being unable to relax in your own home should be a criminal offence.

I 'phoned the police, the authority, the landlords - and no-one was any help at all.

That said, a couple of years ago, a car outside here had a faulty alarm, and it was going all night long. After a couple of hours, I 'phoned the police, only to be told they had no way of knowing who the car belonged to or where the owner lived. I did point out that they're quick enough to send speeding tickets to the address of the owner of a car when they're caught on a speed camera, but that appeared to be 'different'.

In fact, given the provocation described in the article, I think 10 years is excessive. I expect there will be an appeal.

 

[ramonmercado]

'Feral' Richards siblings sentenced for Plymouth attack
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-19971441

Five siblings acted like a "feral pack" when they attacked a neighbouring family in Plymouth, a court has heard.

The Richards clan, consisting of three sisters and two brothers, admitted violent disorder against Dean Mewton and his family in November 2010.

Joseph Richards, 20, of Southway, Plymouth, was sentenced to 56 weeks in a young offenders institution.

The four others - aged between 17 and 32 - received suspended jail terms, unpaid community work and curfews.

'Family from hell'
At Plymouth Crown Court, Judge Paul Darlow also imposed restraining orders keeping the Richards siblings away from Alger Walk in Southway for five years.

"This was an attack in which the Richards behaved as a feral pack," Judge Darlow said.

The court was told victim Dean Mewton, 55, suffered a double jaw fracture in the attack.

Outside the court, Mr Mewton said: "They're the family from hell... they think they're above the law, but they are not."

 

[rynner2]

Amsterdam to create 'scum villages'
Amsterdam is to create "Scum villages" where nuisance neighbours and anti-social tenants will be exiled from the city and rehoused in caravans or containers with "minimal services" under constant police supervision.
By Bruno Waterfield
4:05PM GMT 03 Dec 2012

Holland's capital already has a special hit squad of municipal officials to identify the worst offenders for a compulsory six month course in how to behave.
Social housing problem families or tenants who do not show an improvement or refuse to go to the special units face eviction and homelessness.

Eberhard van der Laan, Amsterdam's Labour mayor, has tabled the £810,000 plan to tackle 13,000 complaints of anti-social behaviour every year. He complained that long-term harassment often leads to law abiding tenants, rather than their nuisance neighbours, being driven out.
"This is the world turned upside down," the mayor said at the weekend.

The project also involves setting up a special hotline and system for victims to report their problems to the authorities.

The new punishment housing camps have been dubbed "scum villages" because the plan echoes a proposal from Geert Wilders, the leader of a populist Dutch Right-wing party, for special units to deal with persistent troublemakers.
"Repeat offenders should be forcibly removed from their neighbourhood and sent to a village for scum," he suggested last year. "Put all the trash together."

Whilst denying that the new projects would be punishment camps for "scum", a spokesman for the city mayor stressed that the special residential units would aim to enforce good behaviour.
"The aim is not to reward people who behave badly with a new five-room home with a south-facing garden. This is supposed to be a deterrent," he said.

The tough approach taken by Mr van der Laan appears to jar with Amsterdam's famous tolerance for prostitution and soft drugs but reflects hardening attitudes to routine anti-social behaviour that falls short of criminality.

There are already several small-scale trial projects in the Netherlands, including in Amsterdam, where 10 shipping container homes have been set aside for persistent offenders, living under 24-hour supervision from social workers and police.

Under the new policy, from January next year, victims will no longer have to move to escape their tormentors, who will be moved to the new units.
A team of district "harassment directors" have already been appointed to spot signals of problems and to gather reports of nuisance tenants.

The Dutch Parool newspaper observed that the policy was not a new one. In the 19th century, troublemakers were moved to special villages in Drenthe and Overijssel outside Amsterdam. The villages were rarely successful, becoming sink estates for the lawless.

"We have learned from the past," said the mayor's spokesman. "A neighbourhood can deal with one problem family but if there are more the situation escalates."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... lages.html

 

[Sergeant_Pluck]

The villages were rarely successful, becoming sink estates for the lawless.

For me, that is the very definition of success. Far better to have all the lawless coralled in one place than infecting us upstanding citizens countrywide.

 

[ramonmercado]

The villages were rarely successful, becoming sink estates for the lawless.

For me, that is the very definition of success. Far better to have all the lawless coralled in one place than infecting us upstanding citizens countrywide.

Hear, Hear!

Sink estates occur because the scum drag others down. Put the scum together.

 

[cheeky381]

This is a monumentally bad idea. Mix all the bad people together and let's see what naughtiness they come up with as a collective. Then maybe we can create a ghetto of anti social behavior. What's the measure of it? How will reformed families (if that's ever achieved) make their way out? How will it be monitored and policed? How extreme does the anti social act need to be before you're packed off to the naughty-town, and how many strikes do you get before you're out?
In the same way petty pickpockets shouldn't be mixed with hard-lifers in prison, I think rather than deterring people this will serve to make bad neighbors worse when mixed with others.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no bleeding-heart liberal, and I live in a pretty anti-social neighborhood (I've lived in worse too). I don't pretend to have the answer to this one either! But if the children of these asbo families have no positive role models outside their families and all they see around them is more asbo families, you're just going to create a new generation of naughty people!

Like I said, I don't have the answer, I'm just against this idea!

 

[henry]

i made a mental calculation today of the number of neighbours ive had serious problems with over the years i have lived in my castle ... its 7 ... since 96 ... actually 8 ...

 

[henry]

i think i have become over-territorial if such a thing exists ...

 

[smokehead]

Either my next door neighbours have an extraordinarily active sex life, or they are running some phone sex/webcam thing, as the groans and moans go on all day and all night.
I've put as many things up against the party wall as I can get to try to absorb the noise, mostly ok, but the noise level rises as excitement mounts, if I can put it that way.
I'm liberal minded, and I applaud their initiative in finding what must be a decent source of income, but to be woken up in the early hours of the morning by the sound of a woman loudly demanding to be satisfied in an unconventional way would try the patience of a saint.

 

[hunck]

Make a recording & post it on here!....

 

[smokehead]

What do you think I am, some kind of poivert?
I'm too busy trying to work out how to get a fibre optic camera feed from my house to theirs!