We moved into our new home earlier this year which is in a rural location at the end of a private lane. We have only one neighbour who is renting the adjoining property from the farmer who owns the surrounding land. He lives on his own and although he seemed warm at the beginning he was overly familiar and took liberties which we looked past (he was aware my car had problems starting so he just said he would have a look at it himself). However, things turned sour when we expressed a desire to have a bit of distance and over the past few months his warmth has turned to inoperativeness and now into outright hostility.
I have been in touch with the policy who have said it is a civil matter and we should approach a solicitor. I have, but it is escalating at a rate where I am in fear for my wife's safety. The bar for an injunction is understandably high, especially when he is a next door neighbour. From the little I have read so far the threshold for criminal harassment is relatively low. It seems the difficulty is in getting the police to agree that it is harassment and not a neighbourly dispute which would become a civil matter.
I'm desperate for help from anyone who knows how to get an advocate to help approach the police so that they can accept it is a criminal issue. If they could at least caution him, it could make a significant difference. My wife is in bits tonight, I am raging and we feel so powerless to do anything about it.
If my wife goes out for a walk on her own, he will notice this and wait behind his shed for her to come back. When she does, he will start striding directly toward her from side on.
His dog has scratched our 5 year old and is now terrified of his dog as a result. He knows this very well and will leave his house with the dog to get ahead of my wife and kids when they are going out for a stroll. Then he will sit on the verge of the narrow lane with his dog on a long lead causing my wife to have to lift him up until they pass.
One night when I took our bin down to the bottom of the lane, he waited for me to pass and then came out and reversed his car across the lane, waiting for me to return. When I came back, unable to get past, he demanded I wind down my window and blasted out various threats.
But what has my wife in bits tonight is that he recently decided to make a speed bump outside his house. Two weeks ago it was a mound on one side of the road, designed to destabilise the trailer I use to take the bin down the lane to the road. Last week it turned into a steep single speed bump, steep enough to cause the bottom of the car to scrape against it. Then he drew about 6 lines in the gravel up the lane, separated by a few feet apart. Today one of the lines became a second speed bump and clearly he intends to slowly build up the other 5. The problem is that my wife has arthritis in her hips following the birth of our first child and going over one speed bump is painful with ramifications for the rest of the day. Five or six will leave her housebound indefinitely as the only reason she could face the pain would be if the children were in trouble and she had to get them to hospital.
I would be deeply appreciative of any help/advice.