Joanne Shreeves: Woman hurled cement at neighbours in bitter feud

A woman hurled rocks and wet concrete over her next-door neighbours' fence during a bitter and lengthy feud in east London, a court has heard.

Joanne Shreeves, 52, had been arguing with neighbours Sandra Durdin, 62, and Trevor Dempsey, 58, over several years.

Stratford Magistrates' Court was shown videos showing a number of altercations between June 2020 and last August.

Shreeves was found guilty of common assault, criminal damage and one count of threatening behaviour.

In May last year, Shreeves, the daughter of former Tottenham Hotspur manager Peter Shreeves, was also convicted of two counts of threatening behaviour with intent in relation to the couple, also relating to the same feud.

On Thursday, the court was shown a sequence of CCTV footage beginning on 24 October 2020 where the defendant was seen hurling rocks and wet cement over the fence of the house in Chingford, while her neighbours stood on the other side.

She also sprayed the CCTV cameras with water using a hosepipe and cut barbed-wire they had erected above their fence.

Another video showed Shreeves bashing her neighbours' trellis with a broom and causing a ladder to clatter into a flowerbed.

In one clip, the defendant's mother Carol Shreeves can be heard shouting from the back door "get in!", seemingly at her daughter following the events filmed.

During a previous hearing related to the case, the court was shown a video of Joanne Shreeves shouting expletives at her neighbours.

On Thursday, the defence showed a video taken earlier that day by Shreeves' mother of concrete spilling under the fence on to their property.

Giving evidence about the day in question, Mrs Shreeves said: "As I went outside I could see all this cement coming out under the fence.

"I asked him [Trevor Dempsey] to please stop it, I said: 'Can you please stop the wet cement coming up under the fence.' He laughed.

"I said, 'I'd like to ask you to take it away please', and that if he didn't stop, I would have to call police.

"I heard the most horrendous crashing noise outside. I went outside to see what the noise was. I was a bit scared.

"I heard Trevor shouting. I heard him say: 'I've had enough of her. I want it sorted out and I want it sorted out now.'"

She added that in the morning she saw Mr Dempsey hammering something on to her fence and staring in through the window.

'Petty squabbling'

Mrs Shreeves and Thomas Townsend, a friend of Joanne Shreeves who was with her on the evening question, told the court they "couldn't explain" the events in the videos and suggested they may have been doctored.

When Mrs Shreeves was shown the footage of her daughter throwing the cement over the fence, she was described by the judge as looking visibly "shocked and embarrassed" by the video.

In his closing statement, Judge William Nelson said: "To suggest that the CCTV footage has been doctored in anyway beggar's belief.

"What is seen on that footage is a true representation. They used to live next door to each other and now they have taken up three days of court time."

He added: "This is a sad scenario, with already one conviction [for Shreeves] of the petty squabbling of adults. I am seeing multiple call-outs from police and a deep problem in the history of these people with the judge having to rule again whether it is a criminal offence.

"Both sets of neighbours are constantly observing the others through CCTV, each seem to know their whereabouts at each time of the day."

Sandra Durdin previously appeared in court accused of putting clowns, dolls and barbed wire on the fence.

At the time the court heard a claim she had parked vehicles on Shreeves' drive and flooded an alleyway.

A charge of harassment against her was dismissed but she was found guilty of criminal damage, ordered to pay £500 compensation and a victim surcharge of £22 on conditional discharge on 13 October 2022.

Following Thursday's hearing, Joanne Shreeves was remanded on bail until 2 March on the condition that she does not make any contact with Durdin and Mr Dempsey.

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hellobbclondon@bbc.co.uk