Nagging wife gets noise abatement notice for being too loud
London, Dec 21 (ANI)
A nagging wife from Staffordshire, who loudly berated her long-suffering husband, keeping her neighbours awake for years, has been given an Asbo.
Julie Griffiths, 43, shouted at husband Norman, 63, so much that she breached a noise abatement order 47 times in just three months, the Daily Express reported.
Neighbours said that living next door to her had been "hell".
One, who did not want to be named, said: "Everyone just feels so sorry for her husband Norman, who is the sweetest man you could ever meet."
"He must have the patience of a saint," the neighbour said.
Staffordshire magistrates heard that Griffiths was first served a legal notice to keep the noise down in 1999.
She was later fined 500 pounds when she breached it in 2010.
Her noisy nagging persisted over the next two years, forcing environmental health officers to fit monitoring equipment in a neighbour's home this July.
Residents living near her 75,000-pound mid-terrace home in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs, were breathing a sigh of relief as she was handed the five-year Asbo on Wednesday.
Griffiths had pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the requirements of a noise abatement notice.
The Asbo prohibits her from engaging in behaviour which causes or is likely to cause a nuisance, disturbance, harassment or alarm to her neighbours.
She is banned from shouting, screaming and banging internal doors.
She was warned that if she breaches the order she faces five years in jail. She was also fined 500 pounds, 250 pounds costs and a victim surcharge of 15 pounds.
Lisa Hall, prosecutor for Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, said it was "by far the worst" noise case environmental health officers had handled.
Steve Lee, defending, said Griffiths, a factory worker, became over-tired after working 12-hour shifts on four consecutive days and sometimes had to "let off steam" to her husband of 23 years.
He added that Griffiths wanted to apologise to everyone for all the inconvenience she had caused.