Neighbours from hell in the North East who made people's lives a misery
These criminals terrorised their neighbours and blighted their communities
Arsonists, fly tippers and violent thugs who inflicted fear and terror on their neighbours have appeared before the courts.
In one case terrifying case, a woman was subjected to a campaign of harassment and vile abuse by a man after complaining about her pets barking. In another case, a woman came out to find her tyres slashed after she complained about the noise coming from her neighbour's home.
Magistrates heard how a former landscape gardener punched one neighbour and pushed another after damaging their car bonnet.
The lives of their neighbours have also been put a risk after fires were started, with a woman setting fire to her boyfriend's flat after saying she didn't like living there has walked free from court. Newcastle Crown Court heard how another arsonist set fire to his flat because he was bored of living there.
Two "notorious" fly tippers also faced the courts as their continual dumping of waste blighted the community.
Here we look at some of the cases before the courts in recent weeks.
Christopher McGowan, 39, had been in a relationship with the victim for a "relatively short period of time" before he moved into her home due to ill health. Newcastle Crown Court was told his behaviour began to deteriorate as he started drinking and taking drugs.
The court was told the couple had an argument and the victim went to bed but McGowan, of Poplar Avenue, Houghton-le-Spring, then sent her a number of threatening voice notes.
The court heard he threatened to set her car on fire and burn the house down with her and her children inside it.
The court heard a neighbour had contacted his partner, who was out for a meal, to ask for the noise to be kept down. The victim contacted her son as she "feared" the defendant's reaction, the court was told.
The court was told after drinking all day the defendant took a knife from the kitchen and slashed three of the neighbour's car tyres.
On another occasion his partner contacted the ambulance service as she became worried about him. Paramedics and police arrived at the scene, the court heard, and the victim went to a hotel with her children.
But, the court was told while there the defendant "bombarded" her with calls and messages and tried to force her to return by threatening to burn her house down and her parents' house down.
In a separate incident, the defendant contacted his former partner and demanded contact with his daughter, the court heard.
McGowan, who has 12 convictions for 29 offences, pleaded guilty to three counts of malicious communication, harassment causing fear and violence and threatening to cause criminal damage.
He was jailed for two years and a restraining order was issued against his former partner.
(Image: Northumbria Police Copyright – No Reproduction Without Permission)1 of 8
A former landscape gardener punched one neighbour and pushed another after damaging their car bonnet.
Tensions had been running high between Paul Chapman and the family next door to his Blakelaw home for sometime when they finally reached boiling point one afternoon last summer. A court heard that the 55-year-old first caused £700-worth of damage to the victims' car by striking its bonnet before turning his attention towards them.
Chapman then punched his male neighbour in the head, causing a burst lip, and pushed his partner in the face, causing swelling to her nose, prosecutors said. Now, the former landscape gardener, of Moulton Place, in Blakelaw, has been given a 12-month community order and must pay a total of £450 in compensation to the two victims after he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating and one of criminal damage at Newcastle Magistrates' Court.
(Image: ChronicleLive)2 of 8
A woman who set fire to her boyfriend's flat after saying she didn't like living there has walked free from court.
Dawn Belisle caused thousands of pounds of damage after torching a top floor flat in a block of six in Newcastle. A court heard the blaze was so intense a window melted out of a wall and a roof void was exposed.
It was just after 9.30am on June 1, 2021 that the fire service were called to Whitbeck Road, Slatyford, Newcastle, where Belisle was living at her then-boyfriend's flat. Three fire engines and an ambulance attended and found a flat on the second floor in a block of six was on fire.
Belisle, whose partner was at work at the time, initially blamed a faulty lighter but tests confirmed the implausibility of her account and a fire investigation ruled out any accidental cause and concluded it was arson.
The court heard Belisle knocked on the doors of neighbours to raise the alarm, rang the fire service herself as well as telling her mother to and the fire was extinguished before it spread to adjoining flats.
Belisle, 29, of Tebay Drive, Newcastle, who has one previous conviction for common assault, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. Judge Robert Adams sentenced her to two years suspended for two years with a six month alcohol treatment requirement.
(Image: Northumbria Police)3 of 8![Kevin Court, jailed for assault]()
A couple attacked a man in his own garden when ill-feeling between neighbours exploded into violence.
The victim was at home when Kelly Burton turned up banging on his door to confront him and threatened to smash his windows. When the man went outside, she assaulted him and her partner, Kevin Court, then joined in the violence while wearing flip flops.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the attack only came to an end when neighbours intervened and the victim was left covered in blood and living in so much fear he and his family put their house up for sale. Now Court has been jailed for assault while Burton got a suspended prison sentence.
It was on June 15 2023 just after 5pm that the victim was at home in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland, watching TV when he heard a bang on the back door. He looked out and saw Burton, who lived a few doors along the street, and she shouted at him.
The court heard Burton punched him in the face and kicked him. Court, who had been doing some work on their house, then turned up and the victim said he saw him standing holding a brick at one point.
The couple then punched the victim and he was pushed and fell to the ground. Burton grabbed his legs and Court sat across him, punching him to the head when he was on the ground.
Court, who said "I'm going to kill you" at one stage, also put his arm around his face and the victim said he felt he was being prevented from breathing and thought he was going to die from being choked.
The attack, which lasted around three minutes, only came to an end when neighbours intervened.
Court, 45, who was jailed for GBH in 2006, and Burton, 41, who has a previous conviction for battery from 2009, both now of Buttermere, Spennymoor, County Durham, each pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Court was jailed for 15 months while Burton got 14 months suspended for 14 months. Both were also given five-year restraining orders and must pay the victim compensation.
(Image: Northumbria Police)4 of 8
