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'Neighbour from hell' used fat figurine to taunt couple next door in bizarre campaign of harassment

The clay ornament was moved around to the neighbours would see it - BARRY CARR
The clay ornament was moved around to the neighbours would see it - BARRY CARR

Every day, when Jennifer Anderson went to and from her home, she was taunted by a figurine of a reclining, overweight lady, which she knew resembled her.

The clay ornament, dressed in a blue striped dress just like hers, was moved around to ensure she saw it every time she passed through her front door.

Mrs Anderson, 61, might have been able to ignore it, but the figurine was simply the tip of the iceberg.

For years, she and her partner David Smith, 59, a former Royal Protection Squad bodyguard, were subjected to a campaign of harassment by their next-door neighbour, Barry Carr.

It was the last thing the couple expected when they moved to the quiet seaside cul-de-sac in Fleetwood, Lancs, five years ago.

But within months, Carr, a wealthy pensioner, had set up cameras to film them day in, day out.

Jennifer Anderson and David Smith - Credit: Warren Smith 
Jennifer Anderson and David Smith were subjected to a campaign of harassment Credit: Warren Smith

Carr, 60, whose property was surrounded by 19 cameras, some of them with infrared night vision, also pointed a false camera with red flashing light into their kitchen.

He played two songs, Jealousy and Strange Lady About Town by Frankie Laine, continually on a loop through a loudspeaker.

The music was so loud, Mrs Anderson said she was unable to venture into her own garden during the summer months.

Carr also erected a 20ft flagpole, securing a large photograph of Mr Smith at the top.

He littered his garden with ornaments such as chattering false teeth and attached a large owl onto his chimney with a camera inside it, Blackpool Magistrates Court heard.

Barry Carr - Credit: Warren Smith 
Barry Carr played loud music Credit: Warren Smith

He stuck a bow tie on a skull fastened to a door that he knew could be seen by the couple when they left their property, which they felt was to mimic Mr Smith, a security manager, who often wore a dinner suit and bow tie when he worked at night.

At their wits end, the couple decided to try and block Carr's view of their home by raising the fence between their homes by six feet.

However, Carr responded by fastening his litany of ornaments and a poster of Mr Smith to his fascia boards so they were still visible.

When police asked him to remove the picture on his flagpole, Carr refused.

Miss Anderson said they had moved into the property five years ago and while the first six months passed without incident, they began to distance themselves from Carr when they realised he was filming them “day in day out 365 days a year."

Skull on wall - Credit: Warren Smith
He positioned a skull in their view Credit: Warren Smith

She added: “The next thing is that a figurine of a fat lady in a blue stripy dress like one I wear has been put on his window sill looking at me all the time.

"This man has tormented me.

“He knows that figurine looks like me.

"When we put up the fence he moved things higher and drilled holes in the fence.

"The music was so bad I could not go into the garden during the summer.I was getting scared to leave home."

Mr Smith said Carr had told him that because they rented their property they were “bringing the neighbourhood down."

"He tried games like putting a bundle of ten pound notes in a bush near our garden, like he was trying to tempt us to take the money and he would have it on film,” he added.

Sarah Perkins, prosecuting, told the court: “His behaviour has become worrying, strange and obsessive.

“It has caused alarm and distress.They are a working couple and want to go to and from their work without being filmed.”

Carr, who ran fish and chip shops before retiring, said he believed his neighbours envied his wealth.

After a two day trial, he was found guilty of harassing the couple between 2016 and 2017, by using the display and position of garden ornaments, watching them on CCTV, playing the same songs repeatedly and on occasion following Miss Anderson and taking a picture of her as she walked her dog.

David Hearton, the bench chairman, told him: "Some of these issues may seem trivial individually but together they become much more serious.

“It was like the dripping tap syndrome- time after time after time causing stress and distress."

Carr was given a ten week jail term suspended for a year and was ordered to pay his victims £200 each in compensation and £900 court costs.

He must not communicate with his neighbours, display photos of them or point any camera towards the front of their home.