'I'll stab your daughter' neighbour from hell handed an Asbo

Katharine Beaumont, 59, was given the order after a court heard she subjected neighbours in Huddersfield to verbal threats, harassment and intimidation and reduced their young children to tears.

Magistrates put an order on Beaumont banning her from engaging in threatening behaviour to help neighbours by curbing her tirades and threats against them.

In August last year magistrates granted the application to impose a temporary Asbo aganist Beaumont after hearing the formal legal firm worker had plagued those living on her street for months with torrents of abuse.

Huddersfield Magistrates Court heard she told a couple in March last year: "You don't deserve to be parents, you're both f****** idiots and your daughter is too. I'm going to kill you both and then chop her head off and stab her with a spear."

She repeatedly swore at residents in the street and caused distress by throwing rubbish and even onions on to a shocked neighbour's land. The abusive behaviour is said to have continued when she abused a resident by labelling him "A fat ginger boy who looks like Phil Mitchell."

She even drove her car at high speed towards a horrified resident and her young children, called an innocent four-year-old girl "a f****** moron" and responded to another child's tears by saying "I'm glad I scare you."

Beaumont has made several appearances before magistrates, including for two breaches of the interim order.

Her expected two-day hearing was cut short after she finally accepted her behaviour was anti-social.

Tom Tyson, prosecuting, said a full Asbo was necessary to protect vindictive Beaumont's neighbours.

Andrew Sugden, mitigating, said Beaumont was struggling with bipolar disorder at the time of the incidents but was now making an effort to manage her problems.

He said: "She was extremely upset about these events and last year it had an affect on her condition which caused her to act inappropriately.

"She accepts that she must hold her tongue and keep her opinions to herself."

Mr Sugden said Beaumont was not taking medication and argued that an Asbo was no longer necessary.

But magistrates disagreed and granted the two-year order, telling Beaumont she must also pay costs of 3,577 pounds because of the long delays in the case.

Beaumont is banned from threatening behaviour anywhere in the district.

Chairman of the bench Liz Rogan said: "Your behaviour was unpleasant, insulting and abusive, particularly when conducted in the presence of, and sometimes towards, children.

"We are concerned that the defendant refuses to take medication and have concerns for a relapse and a repeat of her cycle behaviour.

"We feel an order is necessary to protect others and prevent further anti-social behaviour."

Beaumont fled the court, telling magistrates she was "absolutely disgusted" with the decision.

One of her neighbours, who did not want to be named, said that she had lived there for over a decade and had always been quite short with her but Beaumont's behaviour had escalated in the past year.

She said: "She looks like the nicest neighbour you could possibly meet, to look at her you wouldn't think she was capable of such a foul mouth.

"She's made my life a living hell, I've lost an awful lot of weight through stress and my kids can't sleep at night.

"She threatened to run my 13-year-old son over in her car, tried to smash my front window in and threw stones at my children and my partner.

"She even threatened my partner with a hammer at one stage and said she would shoot my 15-year-old son.

"I don't feel safe with her around, people are scared to walk past her house. If anyone just walks up the road past her house she has a go at them."

PC Michelle Spivey, of Kirklees Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, said: "This case has been very frustrating for the

residents as a result of delays that the defendant introduced by missing health assessments and changing her solicitors.

"There was also the need to balance these delays with the health of the defendant and the refusal of the defendant to accept that her behaviour was not acceptable in a community of families with young children, all of whom have been affected by these issues."