A woman who launched a nine month campaign of harassment on her neighbour for watering her own hanging baskets has been handed a restraining order.
Kim Porter-Wilson, 46, repeatedly photographed Ann Breen, 71, as she tended her flower tubs between their bungalow driveways because she did not want any water splashing on her garden path.
Mrs Breen becoming so intimidated that she watered her plants at night but her neighbour continued taking pictures of her in the darkness.
Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said Porter-Wilson should be ‘kicked off the street’ for her behaviour towards Mrs Breen and others.
Porter-Wilson also made gestures to her neighbour’s CCTV, verbally abused workmen, and deliberately caused parking problems in a lay-by outside their homes in Breydon Way, Caister-on-Sea, near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Kim Porter-Wilson (pictured), of Caister-on-Sea near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, who has been given a restraining order by Norwich magistrates after repeatedly photographing her neighbour watering her plant tubs over fears that water would splash in her driveway
The bungalow homes of Ann Breen (left) and Kim Porter-Wilson (right) in Caister-on-Sea near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Mrs Breen said Porter-Wilson had regularly sworn at her and her husband, but problems escalated after she bought plants to make her front garden look nice.
The married grandmother placed two plant pots as a boundary marker because she was fed up with delivery drivers and other visitors taking a short cut across her driveway to reach Mrs Porter-Wilson’s home.
She later later added some hanging baskets on her bungalow and another dozen pots to form a line on the boundary between their two homes.
In response to Mrs Breen’s new plants, mother-of-two Porter-Wilson repeatedly complained about water dripping on to her driveway. She also got her husband to put a line of her own pots across the entrance to her driveway, meaning they had to be moved every time they went out in their car.
Mrs Breen got rid of her hanging baskets as a result, and replaced the plants in her tubs with low maintenance shrubs which did not require so much watering.
Another residents said Mrs Breen had felt so intimidated that she had been forced to stop watering her plants for long periods, leaving to some of them dying in her tubs and having to be replaced with more hardy specimens.
Porter-Wilson had been due to face a two-day trial at Norwich magistrates court after she denied charges of harassment of four neighbours.
But she accepted a non-conviction restraining order instead, stating that she must not directly or indirectly contact four neighbours including Mrs Breen for 18 months.
Kim Porter-Wilson,46, who has been handed a restraining order after harassing her neighbours, is pictured leaving Norwich Magistrates’ Court
Mrs Breen said Porter-Wilson had regularly sworn at her and her husband, but problems escalated after she bought plants (pictured) to make her front garden look nice
Norwich Magistrates’ Court heard that Porter-Wilson had photographed Mrs Breen’s home night and day and would become furious that water would run on to her path.
The restraining order stated that she must ‘not photograph Ann Breen or her property, specifically when she is watering her plants’.
Mrs Breen who moved to her bungalow four-years-ago with husband Michael, 72, said after the hearing that Porter-Wilson had ‘made her life hell’.
She said: ‘We’re old age pensioners. We came here to have a quiet retirement. We haven’t got that yet.
‘We have had over four years of it. We’ll be sat here doing nothing and she will just start banging and moving the cars in the driveway.
‘It’s just made our lives hell. We’re treading on eggshells all the time. She’s made us feel very uncomfortable in our own home.
‘There’s not been a quiet moment. It’s been more like a prison.’
Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said Porter-Wilson moved cars in her driveway several times a day and would regularly bang a concrete slab on her wheelie bin.
Porter-Wilson had photographed Mrs Breen’s home night and day and would become furious that water would run on to her path, the court heard
The neighbour said after the hearing: ‘We didn’t get what we wanted. She needs to be kicked off the street.
‘At the end of the day, the court wanted to give her 12 months restraining order and I said absolutely not. Hopefully she can just leave us alone now.
‘For the past four years, we have had nothing but abuse. I’ve been afraid to even walk down the street.
‘She’s made me very upset and angry and I am not like this. She’s just been horrible. It’s been a nightmare.’
The order was imposed with the agreement of Porter-Wilson and three of her neighbours, including Mrs Breen.
Prosecutor Hannah Butler said the court had been due to hear evidence from police as well as Porter-Wilson’s neighbours and other residents in the street.
Mark Jackson, defending, said: ‘The defence case here was accepting much of the conduct, but saying that it amounted to irritation and annoyance and does not cross into the threshold of harassment.’
He added that Porter-Wilson suffered from a condition that meant her ‘social skills can sometimes not be as good as they could be and the reaction sometimes to what her neighbours have done was unpleasant’.
The line of plant containers belonging to Ann Breen divided hers and Porter-Wilson’s driveway
Mr Jackson said: ‘As with all neighbour disputes there are always two sides to the story.’
He argued the order was proportionate and that ‘there have been no issues since my client was charged, and that is going back nearly 10 months’.
Following the hearing, Mrs Breen said: ‘All we want is a peaceful life. I don’t want to say anything more.’
Porter-Wilson’s husband said today that she did not wish to comment as her mental health had been affected by her court appearance.
