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‘I didn’t cut neighbour’s TV aerial’
Woman, 62, cleared of damaging wires during long-running bitter feud
FEUDING neighbours battled it out in court for more than three hours over a broken TV aerial.
Ruth Barnes, 62, was cleared at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on Tuesday of cutting wires connected to neighbour Andrea Dawson’s aerial as she tended to her wisteria.
She was also cleared of breaching a restraining order imposed on her in January last year after she climbed a ladder to reach neighbour Ms Dawson’s balcony on the Lissenden Gardens estate in Parliament Hill.
On that occasion, Ms Barnes cut Ms Dawson’s wicker chair with her secateurs.
Magistrate Bill Davies told the court: “There’s clearly a history at this block of flats between Ms Barnes and Ms Dawson which we have taken into account. I accept from both parties very unpleasant things have happened in the past which we hope can be resolved.”
Ms Dawson, a single mother who lives directly above Ms Barnes, told the court she knew her TV hadn’t been working for some time but only discovered the aerial had been cut after phoning a repair man last December.
She said: “I don’t really care if my son doesn’t watch TV as he goes to private school and has lots of work. He (the repair man) asked me to trace the wire. I traced it and saw it had been cut. It was a clean cut, it hadn’t been damaged or squashed – it was severed.”
Ms Barnes, who has lived in the building for 30 years, claimed she accidentally cut her own TV aerial while looking after her wisteria, adding: “It would not blossom. My book said keep trimming it. Wisteria has a wooden stem so it was quite hard to trim and I didn’t realise I cut my TV aerial until I swept up the bits.”
She denied she cut any other aerials, adding: “I’d totally forgotten about the aerial. I’d bought an indoor one and was quite happy with it. I had no idea I’d cut anyone’s aerial off.
“I’m 5ft tall, I’m a lady of nearly 63 – do you honestly think I could act like a monkey and climb up to her balcony?”
Ms Barnes, however, did admit climbing a ladder to Ms Dawson’s balcony last year to cut the leg of a wicker chair.
She told the court: “I’ve been kept awake night after night by Ms Dawson’s behaviour. I could no longer tolerate it and for a few minutes I was totally unhinged and let myself down in doing this act.”
Zoe Levy, prosecuting, said: “I’m going to suggest that you were there to sever that aerial and that’s what you did do.”
Camden Council tenancy services manager James Watson said Ms Dawson had been upset when she had been told to install wall-to-wall carpets due to noise complaints from Ms Barnes.
He added that there was a history of complaints against Ms Barnes from other neighbours, some of which predated Ms Dawson’s tenancy.
Salim Hafejee, defending, said Ms Dawson made up the allegations because she was disappointed Camden Council had decided not to continue with plans to evict her neighbour.
He claimed any cutting of wires was “almost certainly accidental”, adding: “You’ve (Ms Dawson) made these malicious allegations because you knew Ruth Barnes would be in trouble.”
Mr Davies said the bench found Ms Barnes not guilty on both charges
He added: “Having listened to all the evidence we’re not satisfied that the evidence takes us to the point of being sure that you’re guilty of criminal damage.” |
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