{"id":5314,"date":"2025-05-12T22:03:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T22:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/?p=5314"},"modified":"2025-05-13T11:36:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T11:36:40","slug":"neighbour-drove-couple-out-of-their-new-home-using-loud-music-and-power-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/12\/neighbour-drove-couple-out-of-their-new-home-using-loud-music-and-power-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighbour drove couple out of their new home using loud music and power tools"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"363\" src=\"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SEC_250995843-7f77.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-23073496\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Wendy Lau, 54, admitted making noise but claimed she was just an &#8216;inconsiderate neighbour&#8217; (Picture: Andrew Croft\/Solent News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A sign language interpreter has admitted to harassing her new neighbours so much that they moved out.<\/p>\n<p>Wendy Lau, 54, carried out a campaign against Abigail Beckett and Stuart Turner\u2019s house just two weeks after she moved in next door in August 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Among the catalogue of things she did to intimidate the couple at their home in Portchester, Hampshire, she:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pointed a CCTV camera at their house<\/li>\n<li>Played loud music in the early hours<\/li>\n<li>Threw stones<\/li>\n<li>Used power tools at all hours of the day<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When Stuart tried to speak to Lau, she stuck her middle finger up at him and claimed the banging noises were from making a ginger drink.<\/p>\n<p>Things got so bad that the couple contacted police and the Environment Agency and she was served with a cease-and-desist order.<\/p>\n<p>However, that failed and after suffering for 14 months, the couple moved in with Abigail\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"702\" src=\"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SEC_250996555-4b06.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-23073498\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Abigail Beckett felt &#8216;intimidated and targeted for no reason&#8217; (Picture: Andrew Croft\/Solent News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"379\" height=\"243\" src=\"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SEI_250923339-3927-e1747086747323.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-23073282\" alt=\"Pictured: Stuart Turner outside Portsmouth Crown Court, Hants. A nightmare neighbour drove a couple out of their new dream home in a deliberate campaign of &#039;sustained&#039; harassment including using noisy power tools late at night, a court heard. Special needs worker Wendy Lau threw stones, banged on the wall in the early hours of the morning, played loud music, and pointed a CCTV camera at Abigail Beckett&#039;s new house, a judge was told. The 54 year old sign language interpreter&#039;s persistent &#039;targeting&#039; of her neighbours went on until they had &#039;no choice&#039; but to move out of a home they had hoped to &#039;grow old in&#039;, the court was told. Ms Beckett told the judge she felt they had been &#039;evicted by proxy&#039;. SEE OUR COPY FOR DETAILS. Please byline: Solent News ?? Solent News &amp; Photo Agency UK +44 (0) 2380 458800\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Stuart Turner said Ms Lau &#8216;stuck her middle finger up&#8217; at him (Picture: Solent News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She said: \u2018We bought [the house] with such excitement \u2013 it was our first family home together. We have effectively been evicted by proxy from our own home.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I really would like to know what I have done to deserve the fear she has caused us all.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Lau has now been handed a four-month suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to stalking involving serious alarm and distress.<\/p>\n<p>Judge James Newton-Price KC told her: &#8216;This case concerned, in my view, a wholly unjustified and sustained harassment of your neighbour.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Your behaviour had a profound impact on your neighbour and her family which damaged her mental health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;She felt intimidated and targeted by you for no good reason at all.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;You expressed regret although I do agree with the probation officer that you appear to minimise your actions.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong><strong><strong>Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"mailto:webnews@metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this, <\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wendy Lau, 54, admitted making noise but claimed she was just an &#8216;inconsiderate neighbour&#8217; (Picture: Andrew Croft\/Solent News) A sign language interpreter has admitted to harassing her new neighbours so<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/12\/neighbour-drove-couple-out-of-their-new-home-using-loud-music-and-power-tools\/\" class=\"readmore\">Continue reading<svg class=\"icon icon-arrow-right\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"img\"> <use href=\"#icon-arrow-right\" xlink:href=\"#icon-arrow-right\"><\/use> <\/svg><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Neighbour drove couple out of their new home using loud music and power tools<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5314"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5314"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5320,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5314\/revisions\/5320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}