A couple has described how their dream life in a beautiful village was turned into a 'living nightmare' by a neighbour from hell. Corrine and Peter Rotherham thought they had found their perfect home in the £675,000 bungalow in Urchfont, Wiltshire, which has twice been recognised in the Best Kept Village awards. But they now say they are on the verge of being driven out of it after being subjected to a campaign of harassment by next-door neighbour Zoi Hayes.
Hayes 'made our lives absolute hell for 14 or 15 years', Mrs Rotherham said, adding: 'It was like living with a Peeping Tom who was absolutely obsessed with you.' Speaking to the Daily Mail, she described how Hayes cut a hole in the hedge to spy on them, hurled dead moles into their garden and loudly clattered the bins to wake them early in the morning.
Restraining Order Breached
Hayes was given a restraining order 'to not contact, pester or annoy' the couple after she damaged some of their property in 2021. She admitted breaching that order two years later and received a six-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. Hayes has now admitted breaching it again by leaving her lawnmower running to 'annoy' the Rotherhams while they hosted a dinner party for friends.
Prosecutor Christiane Finlay told Salisbury Magistrates' Court: 'The brief facts of the matter are that Mrs Rotherham had been Mrs Hayes's neighbour for 15 years with a long-standing history of a neighbourhood dispute between the parties. She had a previous conviction on February 23, 2021, and she had a restraining order in place until February 22, 2026, after she damaged property. The conditions were to not contact, pester or annoy Corinne Rotherham or Peter Rotherham.'
She continued: 'This is a matter which is, at best, a deliberate breach, as what she's done effectively is pestering the victim by leaving her lawnmower on while the victim Mrs Rotherham was having a dinner party with six of her friends. She hasn't been able to do that for a number of years but, to frustrate and annoy her, Ms Hayes has put her lawnmower on and just left it there. One of the party attendees spoke to her about it and asked her to switch it off, which she did.'
Ongoing Harassment
Mrs Rotherham told the Mail Hayes moved out in January 'and now we have lovely neighbours but she keeps looking for excuses to come back'. She said they spent thousands on new fence panels 'to keep her out' but the pensioner's menacing behaviour persisted. Mrs Rotherham said they had to stay on the other side of the garden and play music so Hayes couldn't eavesdrop. 'It was one thing after another,' she said.
Last July's summer gathering was their 'first in years', she said, adding: 'It was a lovely evening and it was so warm that we could sit outside. Most of the people there knew about her and knew what she was like.' Within an hour and a half of the group chatting in the garden Hayes started up her lawnmower. Mrs Rotherham told the paper: 'I said it was a breach of the restraining order and I was going to call the police because I was so angry.'
After saying she could not get into any disputes with her neighbour, Mrs Rotherham's guests 'went round with a hidden camera' to confront Hayes. 'They got her to admit that she was doing it because she knew I was out there and she wanted to wind me up,' she added. The footage ended up forming part of the case Hayes eventually admitted to. Hayes will be sentenced at a later date.
