A 72-year-old woman has spoken of her relief over a “neighbour from hell” moving.
The former nurse, who suffers from a heart condition, claims the stress of living next to Brian Cotton, in Queenscourt Avenue, Kingsfold, Penwortham, caused her to be hospitalised three times.
Between 2009 and 2012, Mr Cotton, 74, was arrested four times and made subject to anti-social behaviour and restraining orders, after the woman complained about his behaviour to police and Contour Homes, which runs the estate.
Although Mr Cotton admits to firing an airgun towards the woman’s property, he denies “making faces” through her window, shining a torch into her bedroom and damaging her garden.
He claims he only lost cases because he is “hopeless in court”.
And he said he felt forced out of the over-55s estate because “he was sick of always being made to feel in the wrong”, and moved to nearby Rookery Close in December.
But the victim, who asked not to be named, said: “Before he moved in, it was lovely here.
“There was a little old lady in the bungalow next door and I used to go around and make her meals.
“Then Mr Cotton moved in and we first fell out about birds that I was feeding in the back garden.
“Instead of asking us not to feed them, he went and sent a solicitor’s letter to us.
“That was lying behind the door when we got back from a holiday and it made us feel terrible – it completely took the edge off our holiday.”
The woman successfully applied for a restraining order on Mr Cotton in August of last year.
She said: “He used to stand outside my living room window and make faces and give me the finger. He couldn’t go passed without doing something.
“We’ve had to put CCTV cameras up to prove to the police what he was doing.
“He denies everything, but he’s lost in court, and had to agree to the orders against him.
“It’s been absolutely horrendous and the police and paramedics were never away.
“I’ve had multiple fits because of the stress, and I’m not proud to say that I took an overdose of sleeping pills.”
Mr Cotton, a former paratrooper, said his former neighbour was making up allegations and the claims of stress.
He said that the police took her side, did not listen to his counter claims, and that since his story was published, an abusive note has been placed on his car.
The neighbour added: “When I found out he was moving, it made my day. People say that Kingsfold is a bit rough, but we just got unlucky.”
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