A nightmare neighbour who admitted inviting prostitutes to his home has been given an ASBO to stop him disturbing his neighbours.
But unrepentant William Irvine, of Church Brow, Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, told the Evening Post he never had more than two girls around his house at any one time.
Irvine, who is unemployed and said he couldn’t work due to ill-health, was handed a two-year ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order) after residents complained to the police about his conduct.
He is now banned from allowing two or more people, other than family members, to be in his property between the hours of midnight and 7am daily.
He said: “I was having girls round, they were knocking on my door at various times of night.
“Working girls, ladies of the night. It’s not a crime is it?
“I’ve never had wild parties. There was never more than two girls around.”
Irvine’s home was previously made subject to a closure notice, during which time he said he moved in with his sister.
South Ribble Magistrates’ Court was told there were “reasonable grounds for believing that a person has engaged in anti-social behaviour on the premises and that the use of the premises is associated with significant and persistent disorder, or persistent serious nuisance to members of the public”.
Under the terms of the order, Irvine is banned from acting or inciting others to act in an anti-social manner, or a manner that causes or likely causes harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household.
This includes using abusive, threatening and racial language, swearing or making rude hand gestures, and being drunk and disorderly in a public place.
He is also restricted from causing any noise nuisance by “unreasonable use of amplified equipment at a volume that causes disturbance” to members of the public.
Irvine told the Evening Post some of his neighbours “had it in for him” due to a personal “vendetta”.
He said: “I expected the ASBO to be harsher than it was actually, so I didn’t dispute it.
“My brief said usually ASBOs are a lot more intricate and involved than mine was, so I got off fairly lightly.
“A lot of it was exaggerated. I never play music very loud anyway.
“I said to them ‘no problem’. I’m 63. My days of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll are well over.
“The only thing I was bothered about is that it lasts two years. I feel that is a fairly lengthy period of time.
“I’ve only just come back. I’ve already paid the price of being out of my house for three months.”
A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said several residents had contacted the police after deciding ‘enough was enough’.
She said: “As neighbours we weren’t putting up with it. We’re quite a strong community along here, we all know each other, and we want it to be a nice place.
“There is no animosity between us, there are just certain things you can’t put up with in your life.
“The problems were mainly noise and people coming round, knocking on his door late at night.
Another woman who lives in the street said Irvine was not to blame.
Comments