redkite
15-11-09, 02:24 PM
www.thestar.co.uk (http://www.thestar.co.uk) - The Star - 14-Nov-09
nfh age: 64; nfh sex: male
location: Abbeydale Road South, Sheffield
tags: helicopter, poison, noise, rat, harassment, shouting, threatening
Sentence appeal failure in neighbour 'war' (http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Sentence-appeal-failure-in-neighbour.5824608.jp)
By Richard Blackledge
A FORMER helicopter pilot who harassed his neighbours in a long-running "war of attrition" has lost an attempt to have his conviction quashed.
Rod Scott, aged 64, was handed a four-month night-time curfew and fitted with an electronic tag after being found guilty of threatening behaviour towards retired couple Tony and Janet Durkin.
He was also given a restraining order banning him from Pingle Avenue, Millhouses - the Durkins' street near his home on Abbeydale Road South.
The ex-paratrooper blasted out opera music, poisoned trees, used power tools at inappropriate times, lit fires, and threw a dead rat into his neighbours' garden.
He also watched the Durkins from a "shack" in his garden, followed them with a camera, and suggested a threesome with the couple.
Scott was appealing against his sentence at Sheffield Crown Court, with his barrister Kevin Jones claiming the Durkins had "conducted a campaign" against their neighbour.
But Recorder Simon Jackson QC, sitting with two magistrates, dismissed the appeal - meaning Scott's conviction still stands.
Mr Durkin said he was "pleased" with the result.
"We're relieved it's over," he told The Star. "We have had a torrent of abuse and activity which he's defined in his own words as 'a war of attrition'.
"It's one in a long series of battles in the war which is all one-way.
"He's still up and raring for a fight. Will he ever learn respect for his neighbours?"
At Scott's original trial in May, Sheffield Magistrates' Court heard he subjected Mr and Mrs Durkin to 17 incidents in 19 days, and blasted Mr Durkin with a tirade of verbal abuse after pulling up alongside him in his car.
A witness said they heard Scott shouting at the retired teacher: "I am going to have you, I am going to rip your head off. Do you know who you're messing with?"
nfh age: 64; nfh sex: male
location: Abbeydale Road South, Sheffield
tags: helicopter, poison, noise, rat, harassment, shouting, threatening
Sentence appeal failure in neighbour 'war' (http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Sentence-appeal-failure-in-neighbour.5824608.jp)
By Richard Blackledge
A FORMER helicopter pilot who harassed his neighbours in a long-running "war of attrition" has lost an attempt to have his conviction quashed.
Rod Scott, aged 64, was handed a four-month night-time curfew and fitted with an electronic tag after being found guilty of threatening behaviour towards retired couple Tony and Janet Durkin.
He was also given a restraining order banning him from Pingle Avenue, Millhouses - the Durkins' street near his home on Abbeydale Road South.
The ex-paratrooper blasted out opera music, poisoned trees, used power tools at inappropriate times, lit fires, and threw a dead rat into his neighbours' garden.
He also watched the Durkins from a "shack" in his garden, followed them with a camera, and suggested a threesome with the couple.
Scott was appealing against his sentence at Sheffield Crown Court, with his barrister Kevin Jones claiming the Durkins had "conducted a campaign" against their neighbour.
But Recorder Simon Jackson QC, sitting with two magistrates, dismissed the appeal - meaning Scott's conviction still stands.
Mr Durkin said he was "pleased" with the result.
"We're relieved it's over," he told The Star. "We have had a torrent of abuse and activity which he's defined in his own words as 'a war of attrition'.
"It's one in a long series of battles in the war which is all one-way.
"He's still up and raring for a fight. Will he ever learn respect for his neighbours?"
At Scott's original trial in May, Sheffield Magistrates' Court heard he subjected Mr and Mrs Durkin to 17 incidents in 19 days, and blasted Mr Durkin with a tirade of verbal abuse after pulling up alongside him in his car.
A witness said they heard Scott shouting at the retired teacher: "I am going to have you, I am going to rip your head off. Do you know who you're messing with?"