By May 2016 I was struggling to carry on. I'd moved out here for a fresh start, some peace. I'd kept my head down, set up a home school, got my boy to college every day.
Yet since these neighbours moved in after us, just over 2 years previous, we'd put up with:
• garden waste dumped on my drive
• a screw placed under my tyre causing an unrepairable puncture
• nails repeatedly thrown on my drive and under/around my car
• broken glasses thrown on my path and under my car
• eggs thrown on my car
• repeated tampering of my brakes requiring garage attention
• suspected dog poisoning
• anonymous letters through the post
• crossbow bolts being shot into our fence
We'd been maliciously reported to:
• the dog warden for Trix being out of control with children
• environmental health for 'an accumulation of waste' that was excess grass cuttings
• the letting agent for drug production and antisocial behaviour
• NSPCC for child neglect
• social services for child neglect, poor mental health, leaving the kids, shouting at the kids, not educating the kids, K having 'black feet'
• police for random unconnected Facebook posts being directed at the Lane's and supposed to be threatening
All of the above, triggering professional concerns about ME, despite:
• beating a child protection conference in 2013 that contained false reports and false allegations
• passing a full assessment by East Riding less than 2 years ago
• Nottingham confirming they had no concerns about me
• having CCTV cameras on the property opposite recording our front door, driveway and road entrance
• having my Facebook profiles deliberately stalked with the intention of claiming abuse and causing me harassment
• coming to Easington with multiple positive references from various professionals
• having the support of everyone else in the village, apart from these 2 particular neighbours
Remember, I had never once approached these people, never messaged them, never spoken to them apart from the day Jackie knocked my door and introduced herself. I'd hardly DOXXED these people, yeah I was ranting on Facebook, but so fuckin what?
Whoever had been screenshotting my entire life and crying to the police about harassment, was literally SEARCHING FOR MY POSTS!
I didn't get it. I really didn't get it. What was I supposed to do? Just sit quietly and get fitted up? Or have a crash? Or spend my whole life proving my innocence to everyone and anyone, whenever someone who wanted to piss me off decided to 'raise concerns'. Guilty until proven innocent, every single time.
I wasn't gonna get my peace was I?
I just didn't get it. Nothing made sense.
And then the sound of the local singer would float through my open doors to break the silence, and it would feel like paradise again. I was torn between leaving and fighting to stay. With hindsight, I should have gone with my instincts and got out. But the boys loved it here...
After another neighbour had pointed out that someone had been seen in the upstairs window of number 1, I'd stare up every time I went to the car. I wondered if there was a 4th camera pointing through that gap at the bottom of the blind.
One day I thought I saw movement and I stuck my middle finger up at the window as I approached my car.
My middle finger had become a bit of a trademark in my protesting, and I would regularly post selfies with my middle finger poised. If that was someone in that window then fuck you, I flagged my finger a few times at the window, got in the car (aware yet again I'm being filmed from every angle), and drove away. I was sick of being watched.
Soon after that, I got a friend request on Facebook. From Glenn Lane. What the fuck? I blocked him instantly. This was getting ridiculous.
I was on edge the whole time I was in Easington. I hated being at home. But I couldn't afford to move again. And where would we go? I didn't want to go back to Nottingham, I couldn't afford London and I didn't have any links to any other areas.
Me and the boys tried to carry on as normal, but it wasn't the same anymore. While the boys had friends, we didn't feel welcome by our closest neighbours. We were walking on eggshells, aware we were being watched and filmed 24/7. The stress had decimated my health, and my weight plummeted to 7 st 10 lbs (108lbs/49kg). I didn't know where to turn or who to ask for help.
I couldn't understand how someone could literally bypass a Facebook block to stalk your profile, then claim harassment. How was that even possible? It was constantly playing over and over in my mind. Why don't the police just tell her to STOP LOOKING?
How is this woman allowed to use fake profiles to find posts that don't name her, that have never been reported to Facebook, and then cry to police that SHE'S being harassed, after searching for the fuckin posts using devious methods? How is she not just being told to, you know, stop searching my Facebook posts???
Her: this woman is harassing me
Police: what has she done to you
Her: well nothing
Police: ok what has she said to you
Her: she's never spoken to me
Police: so how is she harassing you
Her: well she's blocked me on Facebook so I use a different profile and search her up. The things she posts cause me harassment and distress
Normal response: well why don't you just stop searching for her profile
Humberside police: CRIME OF THE CENTURY, GET CID NOW
And then the police turned up again. To warn me I was being reported for court summons for a section 5 public order offence. For making offensive hand gestures at my neighbour number 1.
Except I didn't. I flagged the gap in their upstairs window. In a deserted street, on my own property, I'd gestured at the house. Nobody was around.
So I WAS being watched from that gap under the blinds.
Reported to court for a public order offence, for sticking my middle finger up at a house?
Could it get any more ridiculous than that?
My mates in London thought it was hilarious, and I got affectionately roasted. I was being summoned to court for flipping my middle finger at someone's house! My mate in North London chided me, "you'd need to be waving a gloc down here H, before the feds would even look at you! Man, your police must be fuckin bored!"
As funny as it sounded away from home, it was getting deadly serious back there. I was still in 2 minds if this was all some weird, reality-TV prank. I tightened up my security on both my Facebook accounts, and started deleting or blocking anyone I thought I couldn't trust. But I knew they were watching, always watching...
None of my friends actually believed it would go any further, they thought the police were just trying to bully me. The courts would be packed if everyone who ever flipped a middle finger at someone's house, was summoned on public disorder. It was ridiculous. The police surely had better things to do.
And then I got a letter from the Chief Inspector...
