A mother-of-three was subjected to a campaign of ‘misery, bullying and intimidation’ by her nightmare neighbour over a dispute about wheelie bins and parking.
Barry, 46, and Faye Mahon, 45, moved into their home in the quiet street of Trenance Close, Cheshire, in 2004 – but soon endured ‘misery’ at the hands of Susan Graham, 69, who lived next door.
Last week Graham was before the court again after breaching an order instructing her to remove CCTV cameras at her home.
‘Susan would just block our drive and park outside the house so when my wife came home from the shops or wherever, she could not get on our drive,’ said father-of-three Barry.
‘We had a blue bin and she would put it in front of our car so we had to move it before we went. She was just so weird.’
Barry and Faye had spoken to Susan’s husband, Alan Graham, about their frustrations and he agreed to speak to his partner about it.
But the dispute came to a head one day when Faye caught glimpse of pensioner Susan ‘staring’ at her from her front door as she wheeled back her own bin along the pavement.
In a frustrated plea, mental health worker Faye told Susan: ‘You know what love, you need to pay more attention to what your husband’s saying to you rather than what I am doing with my bins.’
Susan, however, took such a remark as a hint that her husband had been ‘up to no good’ and angrily hit back: ‘You’re just a troublemaking little s*** and when someone like me stands up to you, you don’t like it.
‘You should back up what you say love, you want to back your mouth up. I can back mine up.
‘You’ve f*****g wound me up. When I see you on your own I will get you.’
The foul-mouthed exchange, which Faye’s young daughter witnessed, landed Susan with a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) – which her neighbours hoped would sort the problem.
‘But it made no difference to be honest and she still carried on,’ said Barry.
‘When you rang the police, they were just dead patronising and they just saw it as a neighbourhood dispute. We could not let the children play outside.’
Susan soon found herself at Chester Magistrates’ Court over breaches of her CBO – which prevents her from parking on her neighbour’s property or driveway and prohibits her from placing items on their land, including in bins, plant pots and garden ornaments.
In October, the pensioner was fined £200 and ordered to move her CCTV cameras after breaching the order by filming a person and a vehicle not connected to her family.
Susan, however, failed to move her cameras and appeared once again at court last week where she admitted the breach and was bound over 12 months in the sum of £150. She was too ordered to pay £85 in costs.
‘There was a breach of the current Criminal Behaviour Order, that was on October 7 2024. As a result of that the court directed the defendant to take her cameras down,’ said counsel for the prosecution, Will Griffin.
‘My understanding is that she does have a Ring doorbell and that does not cause an issue. It is only new cameras. A bind over would be a sensible way of dealing with this.
Lawyer for Susan Graham, Alex Dunn said: ‘Since Mrs Graham was last in the court, she was given further advice by the judge with regard to taking down the cameras. She has done that and the cameras have been removed.
‘She has since installed a Ring doorbell and sought approval with that one. That was agreed, that was accepted by the police.’
Cheshire Police said Susan Graham had made the lives of her neighbours, who have now moved, ‘a misery for a number of years.’
‘I had conversations with her husband after she constantly put her bin at the bottom of the drive to stop me getting the car out and he agreed he would have a chat with her,’ said the affected Faye Mahon.
‘I felt really scared – I never fought with anyone in my life and I’ve never been in a fight or anything. I was frightened and I thought she was going to beat me up.’