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Pair deny using dolls and clowns in 'harassment campaign' against neighbour

Kate Buck
·Breaking News Editor, Yahoo News UK
·2-min read
Sandra Durdin and Trevor Dempsey are accused of flooding a neighbour's alleyway by overwatering plants. (PA)
Sandra Durdin and Trevor Dempsey are accused of flooding a neighbour's alleyway. (PA)

A former couple have denied putting up clowns and dolls on their fence as part of an abusive harassment campaign against their neighbour of 40 years.

Sandra Durdin, 58, and her estranged husband Trevor Dempsey, 62, are accused harassing Joanne Shreeves at their home in Chingford, east London.

The pair have been accused of flooding Ms Shreeves’ alleyway and attaching barbed wire onto garden fencing in a long-running feud between June 2020 and last August.

In addition Stratford Magistrates’ Court was told they put up “clowns and dolls” on their fence.

Durdin is also said to have called her alleged victim an “ugly wh**e” and, together with ex-partner Dempsey allegedly parked vehicles on the complainant’s drive.

Sandra Durdin, 58, and Trevor Dempsey, 62 from Chingford, leave Thames Magistrates' Court, east London, where they denied flooding their neighbour's alleyway by overwatering plants and putting barbed wire on garden fencing as part of a harassment campaign that lasted for more than a year. Picture date: Thursday December 30, 2021.
Sandra Durdin, and Trevor Dempsey have denied the charges against them. (PA)

They were due to stand trial at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Monday after each denying a charge of harassment but Phil Emery, defending Dempsey, said Durdin had contracted Covid-19 and was unable to attend.

Durdin has also pleaded not guilty to criminal damage in relation to an allegation of destroying a £1,350 CCTV camera belonging to Ms Shreeves, who had been the pair’s neighbour for around four decades.

Prosecutor Lucy McGarr said the allegations against the former couple included “putting up clowns and dolls on (their neighbour’s) fence” and “spraying hose water onto their house”.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The accused no longer live in the property on the left. Number plate pixelated by PA Picture Desk. The home (left) of Sandra Durdin, 58, and Trevor Dempsey, 62, in Chingford, north London, who have denied flooding their neighbour's alleyway by overwatering plants and putting barbed wire on garden fencing as part of a harassment campaign that lasted for more than a year. Picture date: Thursday December 30, 2021.
The accused no longer live in the property (left), in Chingford where they were accused of unleasing a campaign of harrassment. (PA)

But the case was described as “messy to say the least” and adjourned for a review ahead of a further hearing on May 3 at Thames Magistrates’ Court.

District Judge Jane McIvor directed the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to decide “whether it is in the public interest to continue” with proceedings ahead of that date.

Dempsey, who sat in the dock on Monday wearing a dark suit, spoke to confirm his details and tell the court he has now separated from Durdin.

The defendants, both of whom are on bail, have both moved to Ramsgate, a previous hearing was told.

They will not be required to attend on May 3.