Nuisance neighbour is jailed over abuse

A man has been sentenced to 14 weeks in jail after making his elderly neighbours' lives a misery.

Gregory Howell, aged 25, from Cannock, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to harassment without violence after shouting abuse,

Jobless Howell, who used to live in a block of flats in Streets Lane, shouted swear words and abuse from the window of his apartment at his elderly and frail neighbours, and their relatives who came to visit them, Cannock Magistrates Court heard yesterday.

Sonia Durrant-Clarke, prosecuting, said Howell, who had since moved to Surrey Close, Rumer Hill, had harassed Rita Stanton, aged 81, and daughter Jane Sloan, along with neighbour Nancy Frost, who is 79, repeatedly between January 2010 and October this year.

Ms Durrant-Clarke told the court Howell consistently made "excessive noise" in his flat.

He shouted abusive language at Jane Sloan, who visited her mother three times a day as she walked past around 10 metres away from him.

The court heard how Howell played his music loud late at night and early in the morning, and he even knocked on the lady's windows and doors.

Ms Durrant-Clarke said that Howell and his friends dropped litter, cigarettes and urinated in a communal garden area, which had put people off tending to the plants there.

According to the prosecutor, Jane Sloan complained to Howell who threatened her family members. Her grandson was left too frightened to visit.

Defending Glenn Cook said Howell had voluntarily left the flat and had no intention of going back.

Mr Cook said that Howell had since turned his life around and had written individual letters to the women expressing his regret.

"The defendant is ashamed of what happened," said Cook.

He added that Howell had made progress improving his life by working with an employment agency on interview techniques and writing up his CV.

Chief magistrate Martin Jupp said Howell would have had 22 weeks in jail had he not pleaded guilty early on.