neighbours

[dmarko99]

hi can anyone please help me,ive been having trouble with my neighbour since i moved in 5 yrs ago,they are an old couple that have moved here to wales from stockport.the house i live in is the only council house in the estate so naturally we got a few stares when we moved in......anyway the bichering has gone a bit to far today.....she came out all guns blazzing this morning shouting abuse coz someone had said to her that i had been slagging her off on my status with facebook which i never ever put any names down.....we r moving this weekend cause we cant take any more so i put on face book that i cant wait to get rid of the old cow and have peace and quiet.......anyway she was shouting in the street saying that i cant look after my 3 kids and that she was going to phone my work and say that im not fit to teach people to drive......she phoned the police in the end and im now waiting 4 them to come over to do a statement........she said that she wants me arrested for slander but i never mentioned her name,the last 18months has been really hard after losing our daughter now ses saying that im not a fit father and shes going to wreck my career that ive bn working hard in collague thru my deppression after my daughters death.......will i be arrested for this????????????????

[Buenchico]

To be pedantic, defamation of character via Facebook is libel not slander. (Libel applies to a defamatory statement which is 'published', as on a web site).

Neither slander nor libel requires you to mention any names. If the person is identifiable (because, for instance, you've said that they live next door to you) it's still possible for an action for slander or libel to be taken against you.

However, slander and libel are civil matters, not criminal offences. You can't be arrested and the only way that someone could take the matter to court would be to fork out thousands of pounds (or, more likely, tens of thousands of pounds) to do so themselves; there's no legal aid available for such cases.

Your neighbour might try to claim that your actions amount to harassment, which is a criminal offence, but it's unlikely that you'd be arrested for it because:
(a) your Facebook jottings weren't meant to be read by your neighbour;
(b) "in the particular circumstances the pursuit of the course of conduct was reasonable" (that's a legal defence) ; and
(c) you're moving away anyway, so there's no need for the police to act to prevent future tensions between you and your neighbour.

Chris

[ChuckFickens]

anyway the bichering has gone a bit to far today.....she came out all guns blazzing this morning shouting abuse coz someone had said to her that i had been slagging her off on my status with facebook which i never ever put any names down

So you had been slagging her off on your facebook status then??

Are you sure the problems are being caused by just the one party in this?? your calling her an old cow on your status, thats hardly trying to help the situation is it..

[Ice.Maiden]

I'm amazed that this sort of thing can go off between so-called adult people. Your best bet would've been to ignore the jibes, and then you could've done your NEIGHBOUR for harrassment - but to put things up on Facebook seems immensely immature, sorry.

[dmarko99]

thanks chris that helped a lot.........chuckfickens...every time i go out side over the past 18months shes come up to me to complain about somet and ie i put down on facebook WHY WOANT THE COW NXT DOOR LEAVE ME ALONE...Thats all i put i never put any names down.....and as for me not helping the situation you try living nxt door to her see how long you would last without tellig her to F**KOFF ive 3 kids 5,3 and 5months shes even come over to complain that the kids wake up to early and they wake her up,,our day starts b4 6 every day...the joys of having kids but to actually come and knock im sorry thats to much.....ive had this for 5 yrs the 1st 3 and a half years i kept my mouth shut never answered back but now its getting old all i do is tell her to leave me alone but she keeps on coming and coming what am i to do stand there and let them abuse me in front of the street i think not

[dmarko99]

ice.maiden my status said IS ****** OFF....Then my friends asked me what was going on so the conversation was on the comments after my status if ur on facebook you know what i mean......and the part when i said WHY WOANT THE COW NXT DOOR LEAVE ME ALONE i was actually having a conversation with a friend so how am i immature....the fact is my family and I HAVE BEEN BULLIED out of our home im glad my other nxt door neighbour said to me yesterday that he knows what been going on and he said to me he cant understand why shes doing it he has been there most of the time shes been shouting.......so you see i am actually inocent in this she just wants to bully us coz we r a young couple and ie we r doing well 4 our selfs COULD IT BE JEALOUSY MAYBE....THANKS FOR UR COMMENT ANYWAY CHEERS

[VHG]

If you are moving this weekend why not just let the next couple of days go by and then there is an end to the problem.

It is probably NOT a good idea to put ANYTHING on your facebook web site for the next couple of days.

Plus you need to put things in perspective, there is no way she could "wreck your career" for example.

My guess is that we have the classic situation where they are old and want to lead a totally quiet life, and you have children so there is always going to be some noise.

If their house is so quiet they probably hear every bit of noise that happens in your house so they probably just drive themselves into a frenzy about it.

If she comes out to shouts at you again JUST IGNORE HER, if she does not get a reaction she will soon get fed up. It is when she sees she gets a reaction that it makes her feel better.

[tamborine]

Call the police - she's disturbing the peace; prosecute her!

that'll shut the bitch up

[R1Geezer]

so what started all this? Is it just as VHG says that they are old wanting a quiet life and you and your kids are noisy. Is that just it or have you done things to annoy them earlier on?

[dmarko99]

we were friends for ages but they were pushing the friendship barreir a bit with the petty complaints but back then we said we would bite our lip coz they were older.and just get on with it but it started to get a bit much last summer when we had a new bathroom from the council the lads where working up stairs when she came knocking and said 2 us to make sure they take the stuff 2 nite....what they did was they had to leave the old bathroom in the front garden over night coz they had no room in van to take it that day..but she was not happy she came round shouting that her house was private property and she does not want crap out si her house....but it was in my garden plus the lads where still working there......more i think about it and other people say it aswell they may be jealous of us,who knows,we had oil centrel heating put in last summer she had a moan bout the vans in the street but suprise suprise few months later she had a firm over to put gas heating in theyre house lol...........we had a new grate with a lovely elecrtic fire they saw the box out side and had the cheek to ask to come in and see it,which i did anyway coz i didnt want argue...yes you guessed it few weeks later what did i see in the garage they had bought somet the same.......so can you see where i am coming from with all of this she is driving us mad we cant do nothing right only when it suits her im going mad in this house,ive been brought up to respect my elders have done all my life but we have been bullyed out of our home here.....all she does is play the im old card all can say is she should act her age.how would u feel,i lost a daughter 18 months ago so i decided to stay home and look after the boys then,and what did she shout in the street the other day that i cant look after my kids,arnt we going through enough as it is with out her bullying us....but again im the one thats in the wrong

[R1Geezer]

OK mate well well I'm sorry for you, they sound like a nightmare. Getting back to your original question, they can't do very much. Libel is a civil issue, they can't effect you beyond that. There are sad people everywhere.

[dmarko99]

ta mate anyway im half way out the house now ive taken my self out of the situation....she woant bother e or my kids again (i hope) thanks every one that took the time to answer my question means a lot cheers darren xxx