A neighbour involved in a long-running dispute with the next-door couple, has been sentenced for breaching a restraining order by falsely accusing them of being drug-dealers.
Sentenced: Virk
However, Ruby Virk, 54, claims her life is being made a misery by the couple, accusing them of excessive noise and smoking cannabis.
She pleaded guilty to breaching the three-year order, which was made after the Crown Prosecution Service dropped harassment proceedings against her in relation to the couple in November, 2020.
Virk was sentenced to a twelve-month Community Order, which includes 140 hours community service.
She was also fined £100 and ordered to pay her neighbour £250 compensation.
Police were called to her address in Haygreen Close, Kingston-upon-Thames at 4.30pm on November 3, last year to deal with a dispute involving Virk’s tenant and door locks being changed.
While the officers were there Virk’s neighbour’s opened their front door to see what was going on, said prosecutor Rose Edwin at an earlier hearing.
“The tenant said those neighbour’s were in trouble with the police and drug-dealers and he said he had got that information from his landlady, Virk.”
She is subject to a court-imposed restraining order made on November 25, 2020, prohibiting her from contacting her next-door neighbour’s; standing outside her front door; posting items to them and accusing them of being drug-dealers.
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| Ground Zero: Haygreen Close |
“She has informed other parties that there neighbour’s are drug-dealers,” added the prosecutor.
The court heard Virk has four convictions for a total of fourteen criminal offences, mostly of a public order nature.
The male half of the couple detailed the problems living next-door to Virk in his victim impact statement.
“There has been a financial impact on our lives. We have had to instal an alarm system and installed security cameras,” he said.
“We have not slept well over the last three years and are awake at every noise and bang in the night in fear that Ruby is damaging our home or trying to get in again.
“We are in fear of her slander and lies that we are drug-dealers and racist.”
The neighbour said he lost an architecture role due to a stress-induced drop in his work performance.
“We are unable to use our garden or have guests over more than a few times due to the constant harassment.”
One underlying issue is a shared pathway both Virk and her next-door neighbour’s have to use to access their homes.
Virk’s lawyer Catrina Sheehan told the court: “The victim impact statement seems to be highly-exaggerated. This charge is related to just one incident.
“The impact statement relates to many other older incidents.
“The background to this is a long history of a neighbour dispute and she says her life is being made a misery by the couple through noise and the smell of cannabis.
“She has required therapy and treatment for depression.”
Virk told the magistrates: “It was the height of the moment. It was an intense evening.”
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