A retired couple who created ‘rural hell’ for their neighbors due to access to a country road have been convicted.
Stephen and Jacqueline Gee launched a decade-long harassment campaign against Jason and Averil Little after moving in next door in Dorset.
Mr Little, a decorated army major who won the Military Cross, and his wife were ‘besieged’ for using an access road between their two homes, Crown Court heard in Bournemouth.
On Monday, Mr Gee, 68, was handed a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years after admitting charges of harassment and breaching a restraining order, while the 10-week sentence of Mrs. Gee was suspended for one year.
The court heard that Mr Gee received a restraining order from the Littles in 2018 after he was found guilty of causing criminal damage to their outdoor swimming pool.
He was caught on CCTV wearing a balaclava and sneaking onto their property at night to cut the pool with a knife, flooding their garden.
Nigel Hall, prosecuting, told Bournemouth Crown Court: “Mr and Mrs Little moved into Milk House on Fairview Farm in 2012 with their two daughters.
“There is an access trail to their property which they shared with the defendant. There was a history of disagreements between them.”
Mr Hall said Mr Gee let his resentment over the sentencing simmer for years until he started harassing the family again in 2020.
Mr Gee, a retired aeronautical engineer, and his wife abused delivery drivers and visitors to their neighbour’s house, telling a courier to ‘fuck my dirt’.
They also blocked their access with a door and concrete bricks and made fake signs to direct visitors to their property in the hamlet of Puxey.
Mr Hall read a statement from Ms Little in which she said her family felt they were living under ‘a state of siege’ and that the harassment had had an impact on their mental health.
Mary Aspinall-Miles and Richard Martin, defending the Gees, both argued their clients had a “legitimate concern” about delivery drivers and visitors to the track they own.
But Judge Richard Pawson said the couple acted “shamefully” and told them to grow up.
He placed them both on an indefinite injunction and they were also fined a total of £2,000 between them plus a victim surcharge of £3,000.
Judge Pawson said: “You are both in your 60s. You have behaved in a disgraceful manner. I am not convinced there is any valid reason for the grievance you have.
He added: “It’s the fact that you two, for unknown reasons, have developed an obsession with your law-abiding neighbours.
“You turned your place of residence into a rural hellhole. You both knew very well the impact of your actions and that’s why you were so unpleasant.”
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