Asbo neighbour faces £200k costs

The judge said Wilding saw "herself as the main victim"

A retired businesswoman accused of turning an idyllic rural community into a "hamlet of horrors" has been told she must pay court costs of £200,000.

Jeanne Wilding was given an Anti-social Behaviour Order (Asbo) for a "rampaging campaign of hatred and pure evil" in Bottomley, West Yorks, a court heard.

Wilding, 59, later pleaded guilty to twice breaching the order.

At Bradford Crown Court on Tuesday she was given another five-year Asbo and warned she faces the costs bill.

She was also sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid community work and a two-year supervision order.

We just hope we can get our lives back together and we just hope she listens to the judge Neighbour Paul Cryer

Describing the case as "extraordinary", Judge Christopher Prince said: "This is a case of serious and sustained anti-social behaviour, undertaken as part of a campaign with the sole intention of causing harassment, alarm or distress to others."

Judge Prince said the £200,000 costs would be awarded to Calderdale Council, the Crown Prosecution Service and the government at a hearing later this month.

Dead animals

Wilding was given the original Asbo in May 2006 at Calderdale Magistrates' Court.

She launched an unsuccessful four-week appeal against the order and later admitted breaching the Asbo twice in June 2006.

Bradford Crown Court heard she moved to the hamlet in 2002, and had previously caused similar problems at a former home in Wiltshire.

Incidents in Bottomley included playing loud music, damaging neighbours' vehicles, shining lights into her neighbours properties and directing cameras towards their homes.

She also deposited dead animals, rubbish and dog faeces around the area and left glass and nails on the road.

Judge Prince said Wilding failed to take full responsibility for her actions and had placed the blame on her neighbours.

Neighbours' 'strength'

He added that Wilding's neighbours, Nigel and Penny Price and Paul and Nikki Cryer, were "thoroughly decent, hard-working couples" who had demonstrated "extreme patience and strength" throughout the case.

Speaking after the hearing, industrial cleaner Mr Cryer, 45, said: "I'm really relieved it's all over after five-and-a-half years.

"We just hope we can get our lives back together and we just hope she listens to the judge."

A spokeswoman for Calderdale Council said Wilding's neighbours and members of the Todmorden community had all been subjected "to a prolonged campaign of harassment and nuisance".

"We will continue to support these residents and will do everything we are able to do to ensure they can go about their everyday lives without fear of intimidation," she added.