One of my friends, who died a few years ago had a terrible neighbour experience. Her and her partner who was a fireman who worked shift bought an ex council house. They had viewed the house and fell in love with it. They knew a family lived next door amd thought noth8ng of it as they themselves were trying for a baby. The problems started almost immediately. The woman who lived next door in a council house had six children, three were 18 and over. The youngest three were just feral. No dinner times or bedtime. They played in the street, usually breaking something, or stealing cars. The police were constant visitors to the house. The front garden suddenly become a place for wrecked cars and car repairs, going long into the night with outside drinking snd weed smoking. The woman of the house declared my friend to be a ‘snob’ because she wouldn’t chat long or let her come into her house. She was drunk most days and had developed a habit of knock8ng my friends door and ask8ng for bits of money, strange amounts like £2.50, never more than £3. After about the twentieth time of asking, getting amd not replaying my friend put her foot down and told her never to ask again. The woman wen5 ballistic and accused her of trying to starve her children by refusing her the price of some potatoes. She wasn’t buying potatoes, her dealer sold her read6 made spliffs for a quid each.
After that their house was under siege. Day and night. Banging on inside walls calling her and her husband names. Every time they left the house there would be smashed eggs, ketchup, all sorts squirted on doors and windows. The car was vandalised so often they sold it and her husband took a bus to work. It was 24/7 harassment. The three elder sons sexually harassed my friend. She contacted the police and co7ncil. The council sent a warning letter to the woman but nothing changed. My friend told me she was seriously th8nkimg about contacting social services about the kids. They didn’t eat regularly or ever attend school, amd it was the kids that were vandalising the home. But she was reluctant to do it b3cause she feared the reaction she would get. They put the house up for sale. Every time some came for a viewing the noise and trouble was immediate. The elder sons shouting at the prospective buyers. Every evening in the summer months the front garden was full of yobs. My friend and her husband decided to move anyway, regardless if they sold thehouse or not.
One even8ng, late about 11 o’clock a knock at the door. It was the woman next door. Her youngest kid hadn’t come home,he was 7, had they seen him. They hadn’t, so off she went. The next morning a police car was parked outside the house. The child had been found dead. Hit by a train on the tracks where he and his brothers played.
For about three mon5hs following the death the noise abated. My friend actually cooked an even8ng meal every night for the family. Suddenly the house sold. They were delighted. The day after they told the woman threywere moving out the trouble started back up. Almost immediately and in the same form. Vandalism, name calling and the thugs were back in the front garden all night longdrinking and smoking and making noise. She said it was as if the child hadn’t died, everything just reverted back to the past. They moved out one early Sunday morning, everyth8ng thrown in a van and they never looked back. She said she felt guilty not warning the new owners about the problems they had had, but she wanted to flee. About six months later her husband, the fireman was called to a ‘shout’. He found himself attending a fire in his old house. The thugs were out on the street shouting burn baby burn, clearly enjoying themselves. The house burnt to the ground. No one was hurt. It was an arson attack. No one was charged.