Wife Accused Of Stalking Claims Lawyer Told Her To Have Phone: "At The Ready"

Christoph & Sylvia Hons

A vegan woman and her vegetarian husband, accused of stalking their former neighbours, told a jury she always had her phone at the ready to record their anti-social behaviour.

Architectural technician Sylvia Hons, 45, and her husband Christoph Sons, 50, a senior restaurant sommelier, claim they were tormented by meat cooking smells from next-door.

The German couple wasted £5,000 pursuing a civil claim against former neighbours Scott Lawrence and his wife Jessica Parker, who they say harassed them.

The Hons’, of 16 Westmorland Close, St. Margarets, Twickenham have pleaded not guilty to stalking the couple in the local area by filming them on their phones between January 15 and April 29, last year.

“We were filming in anticipation of something that might happen, that another incident may occur,” Sylvia told the Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court jury.

“We were anticipating something might happen to us,” she added. “The history is Scott Lawrence has followed me down the street.

“It was natural every time I’d leave the house or station to have the phone on record in anticipation of being shouted at or their dog coming up to me.

“He had followed me down the street menacingly before and my solicitor said: ‘Have your mobiles on and ready, but don’t give anyone any reason for thinking you are stalking unless something very dramatic happens.’

“There were also noises and shouts made at our cats at our end window, where you could hear communication.

“We thought our cats were being targeted.

“We wanted to have a normal life without having to film and be anxious,” Sylvia told the court. 

“He once started following me with a menacing grin in St. Margaret’s. That had never happened to me before and I hid behind a van and called police 101.

“I panicked.”

Both couples ended up filming each other with their phones and Go-Pro’s and Christoph, whose home is equipped with multiple CCTV cameras, was issued with a police harassment warning along with his wife and Mr. Lawrence.

Trial continues………..