Telford couple tell of misery from elderly neighbour

Serbian national Milka Kontic was filmed by neighbours John and Audrey Ward on several occasions looking around her garden for things to throw.

The feud, which the victims claim has been going on for more than 10 years, has seen muck, mud, cat mess and other rubbish hurled over the fence using a dustpan.

Mr and Mrs Ward, of Trench, said it had left them afraid to go out into their garden and had prevented them from allowing their grandchildren to go out there to play.

Kontic admitted two counts of harassment when she appeared before magistrates in Telford.

She was given a six-month conditional discharge and a restraining order that prevents her from contacting her neighbours, or putting any items in their garden.

Mr Mike Phillips, prosecuting, said that incidents were happening daily before charges were brought.

He said on one occasion Mr and Mrs Ward watched from their upstairs bedroom as Kontic emptied a dustpan over the fence into their garden.

Reading a statement from the couple, Mr Phillips said: "We can no longer sit in the back garden as we should be able to in our retirement because of constant fear of rubbish and missiles being thrown.

"We do not need this constant harassment and nuisance and we should not have to live with it."

"You never know what you are going to find," Audrey, 78, said following the court hearing.

"One morning we came downstairs to find the whole back window had been caked in mud. You could hardly see out of it.

"Another time we left our back window open and she shoved her hosepipe through it with the water running. It would have completely flooded the house if we had not spotted it so quickly.

"It has just been a living nightmare."

Retired bricklayer John and Audrey have been married for 54 years and moved into their home in Trench, Telford, around 20 years ago.

Kontic, 87, was already there, having been a resident in the street for more than 50 years.

John, 74, said they initially got on.

"There were no problems at first, no problems at all," he said.

"She used to lock herself out of the house and I would drive her up the road to her son's house to get a spare key. We used to talk often. We got on fine."

So what changed?

"We had a cat," Audrey says.

"She started saying there was a lot of cat mess in her garden and that our cat was responsible. It wasn't – we put wire fencing up to stop the cat getting out of the garden and it was in the house most of the time anyway.

"We saw eight or nine different cats roaming around in her garden from other houses but she was adamant. It was there the trouble started."

Kontic admitted two counts of harassment when she appeared at Telford Magistrates Court on Friday.

The Serbian national was given a six-month conditional discharge and a restraining order and has been banned from contacting her neighbours or putting any items in their garden.

But her defence solicitor put forward another reason for the dispute during the hearing.

Mrs Shahnaz Dean said Kontic, a "house proud woman", blamed her neighbours for attracting birds she claimed were pecking away at moss in her guttering and causing a mess.

"It's true she didn't like us feeding the pigeons," John said.

"She made that very clear. I was out in the garden one day putting some bread out and she threw a brick which just whistled past my ear. I turned round and shouted 'what the hell are you doing?' but you can't speak to her. Even her sons say that.

"I mean how can you get upset at someone for feeding the birds?"

The Wards said the feud seemed to worsen after John retired back in 2004.

To help build a case against his neighbour, Mr Ward was urged to keep logbooks of all the evidence.

He also turned detective himself, buying a camcorder and filming his neighbour from the upstairs window in the hope of catching her in the act.

The grandfather-of-two did just that – several times.

In the clips Kontic is seen wandering round her garden on a number of occasions.

"She is looking for something to chuck," John says, setting up the video. "Watch this in a minute – it's absolutely comical."

In the one clip Kontic disappears off camera for a few seconds and returns holding only a tiny white feather. She tries unsuccessfully on three occasions to throw it over her neighbours' fence, with it blowing back into her hands every time, before finally getting it over.

Other clips show the pensioner using a dustpan and brush to collect up rubbish from her garden before using the dustpan like a tennis racket to fling it over the fence.

The constant battle has taken its toll on the couple. "It has affected our health, definitely," John said. "I have had a heart attack, the wife has had a heart attack, and she has got leukaemia now as well.

"It just makes you really angry because we have done nothing to deserve it. You want to go round and smash her place up as well but you can't can you?"

"I wanted to move at one stage," Audrey confesses. "But it's like John says, why should we?

"It has made me ill with all the worry. I constantly feel like crying. I was on the way to a hospital appointment the other week and I nearly walked in front of a bus because I was miles away thinking and worrying about it all.

"We have seen the sign saying the house has been sold so hopefully that will all go through and our nightmare will soon be at an end.

"We used to love going out in the garden in the summer. We used to sit out there with a cup of tea, but now we daren't because we don't know what is going to come flying over the fence.

"The grandchildren won't go out there either. It is no way to live."