Woman trained parrot to torment neighbours, played Toy Story at full blast for seven hours and hurled dog poo at their home
Hearing pet’s constant noise was ‘Chinese torture’, victims claim
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A pensioner has been taken to court for harassing her neighbours by making her parrot sing loudly, playing Toy Story back-to-back on full volume and throwing dog faeces at their home.
Catherine Searle, aged 81, was also caught on CCTV rubbing grease on their cars and putting nails under their wheels.
She has been given a suspended sentence and a restraining order by Maidstone Magistrates' Court.
Paul and Lydia Appleton said they had endured 16 years of harassment and that it began after they asked Searle to keep the noise down in 2004, shortly after moving into their new home in Seal, a village in Kent.
Searle has claimed the dispute started over parking in the road.
The couple said she would encourage her parrot to sing loudly while they were in the garden, which they described as "Chinese torture".
“There is no escaping the very loud piercing noises it makes in a continuous repertoire,” Ms Appleton said.
She claimed Searle would urge the parrot to sing by creating noise in her house.
Her husband said the pensioner once left Toy Story playing loudly for “around seven hours” while she sat in another neighbour's garden "having a drink and laughing".
Searle was handed a community order in 2017 for throwing dog poo into the Appleton's garden.
She pleaded guilty to criminal damage and harassment halfway through the trial in December, and was given a restraining order and suspended sentence.
Defence lawyer Francis Conteh warned the restraining order was a "recipe for disaster", given their proximity as neighbours.
Mr Appleton said: "I think the sentence is a good outcome, she has been given a warning - offend again and you go to prison."
Additional reporting by SWNS