Widow, 73, convicted of harassing her neighbours

The couple that live next to Dorothy Brenda Staton told the justices under oath how she stood behind the family car so it couldn’t move, threw water at one of them and complained about their children playing with a ball.

They also said she told them they “wanted hanging” and to “get their scruffy kids in” and called them “criminals and black marketeers".

Giving evidence, Staton of Westfield Road, Eggborough, denied using the words “scruffy” or “kids”, denied talking to the couple or throwing water at them. She also denied harassing them by staring out of her bedroom window at them.

She claimed the couple were “black marketeers”, and that they needed hanging, saying “I would like to charge them with treason to this country”.

Staton, who was recently widowed, denied two charges of harassment committed last summer, but the magistrates convicted her.

Giving their verdict, they said the neighbours had been “entirely credible” and had shown empathy with Staton’s personal situation, but had been concerned about the effect of her behaviour on their children.

They heard from North Yorkshire Police that after the couple had reported the harassment to them, officers gave Staton a formal warning about her behaviour, but the harassment continued.

Adjourning sentence for a pre-sentence report, they ordered the probation service to look at Staton’s mental health, what rehabilitative work she could be ordered to do as well as whether she needed supervision or a curfew or both.

Magistrates will sentence Staton on February 3. She was released on bail on condition she doesn’t contact her next-door neighbours in any way. She has no previous convictions.

She claimed she had been within her rights to stand behind the car because she had been on a footpath and the couple were using a dropped kerb she had paid for.

The court heard she accused various people of repeatedly going into her house and stealing items.