Mabry Log

1998
November 1998 - Mabry had a fence erected on my front lawn, fencing off a 1.5 metre wide strip adjacent to his driveway for himself. He said that he had the deeds for his property, that the fence was being put on the boundary, and that it was to deter people from taking a short cut between our properties.

1999
January 1999 - I received my Land Certificate, and found that Mabry had lied to me. The forged plan of his property he produced in an attempt to justify his actions was unconvincing. When I asked for the fence to be removed, Mrs Mabry called me a "neighbour from hell". Mr Mabry was furious: he had intended to cover his drive with paviours, and widen it by taking in the part of my lawn that he had fenced off.

A few days later Mabry called me "a little shit" and various other obscenities, advised me to see a psychiatrist, and said that all the neighbours were complaining about me. I was to be subjected to further verbal abuse and threats on many other occasions - shouting through my letter box, shouting threats over the garden fence while wielding a saw or turning a hose on my garden, and making derogatory and offensive remarks as opportunity allowed.

I then started receiving malicious mail and courier deliveries - unwanted parcels, catalogues, brochures, and letters - some of which were followed up with telephone calls. On the delivery address, during this year my name was incorrectly spelled, though phonetically plausible.

It started with letters, and catalogues from Freemans, Empire, and Grattan, then:
12/5/99 - A courier tried to deliver a box from World Books.
5/6/99 - A parcel pushed through my letter box was returned unopened.
21/6/99 - An invoice from World Books had to be dealt with.
23/6/99 - Royal Mail tried to deliver a parcel, which I refused.
5/7/99 - The courier for World Books tried to deliver a box of books from QPD. I obtained specimens of handwriting for the police.

Mabry and his son on several occasions mowed the area of my front lawn that Mabry had tried to steal.

7 July 1999 - Mabry advanced across my front lawn, pushed me in the chest, and threatened to beat me up to the extent that I would need intensive care in hospital. The police were called.

23 July 1999 - Mabry threatened me and anyone I employed with violence. Mr J.Callow & Son of 14 Roselands Av., Eastbourne, were present, as the police were told. Mabry's conduct by this stage had reached the level of seriousness described in section 4 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. (21/7/03, a supervisor at the local police Incident Management Centre said, "As far as the 1999 incidents are concerned, I have been unable to find any record on our computer system.")

2001
Spring 2001 - Mabry said that I could have a wall built adjacent to the boundary.

5 November 2001 - When the builders arrived, Mabry threatened to fill in any trench they dug. He also removed a panel from the fence between his property and mine. The police were called.

2002
23 March 2002 - The day after a judge said that I could remove the rest of Mabry's fence from my property, I did so, as a result of which Mabry assaulted me, and knocked me to the ground. The police believed Mabry's lies about the incident, and refused to let me make a signed statement, because I would not agree to not pursue the matter further. The police refused to consider the relationship between the assault and previous incidents to which the police had been called.

2003
25 March 2003 - I attended Hailsham Police Station, ref. 337 - 25/03/03, taking samples of mail and the handwriting of the person responsible for its being sent. I was told by a wpc that the police could do nothing as "money" was not involved. I had been complaining to the police since early 1999 about harassment by the Mabrys, which included verbal abuse, threats of violence, and - I think - the delivery to me of goods that I did not order, a practice which had begun in 1999. This started again on 25th March 2003 with the delivery of two fleeces, then a box of books and compost on 1st April, then a throwover, pants and a dress, then a porcelain plate. I also had to cancel orders for an eternity ring and a hand-finished French rococo painted table.

28 May 2003 - A balloon full of water came over the Mabry's fence, just missed washing on a rotary drier, thumped the sliding glass door to my dining area and split open, destroying a saxifrage plant in a pot by the door as it did so.

16 June 2003 Trespass - Mabry taking a short cut over my front garden for the third time.

30 June 2003 - As I was taking photographs of my garage, Mabry came out and shouted, "You'd be better off seeing a psychiatrist, Geoffrey".

7 July 2003 - Mabry told me to put my property on the market and move out.

18 July 2003 - As I went towards my garage, Mabry shouted from the front garden of 23 Patcham Mill Road, "Are you getting down to the estate agents then? . . . sling your hook?"

23 September 2003 - Mabry cut down long grass on my property and threw it on to a flower bed.

30th October - I received a telephone call from an unnamed person who told me, "You get out of there and do it now. Right?"

12 Nov 2003 - Delivery of goods from Choice refused.

17 Nov 2003 - I received four video tapes from Britannia, the worst company I have had to deal with so far. On their account, on 3/8/04 I was sent a document which said that I had been added to a register of debtors, so Britannia Music Co. Ltd. now deserve a web page of their own.

17 Nov 2003 - Mabry (presumably) pounded on my front door, and delivered a letter from Mabry, which said he was sending a copy of the letter to Sussex Police.

4 December - Unwanted documentation received from Choice.

16 December - Choice catalogue left outside front door.

2004
8 January 2004 - In an email to Inspector Brown, I said that I would be adopting the police's attitude of laissez faire to the delivery of unwanted goods.

8 January 2004 at 4.30 p.m. - I received another threatening telephone call, from an unnamed person who claimed to be speaking for "the Residents' Association", telling me to get out of my property. Though the message was somewhat incoherent, I understood the caller to say that all the residents were complaining about me, a spurious idea advanced early in 1999 by Mabry.

Harassment has followed in the form of further telephone calls. I logged apparently malicious calls on 9, 10 and 11 January during the daytime. I had a trace put on the line and logged calls on Monday 12 January at 1.38 a.m., 3.26 a.m., 3.28 a.m. (unplugged the 'phone), 10.40 a.m., 5.35 p.m., 5.39 p.m., 5.48 p.m., and 5.52 p.m.; on 13th January at 2.38 a.m. (unplugged the 'phone) and 6.05 p.m.; on 14th January at 2.09 a.m. (unplugged the 'phone) and 3.16 p.m. I unplugged the 'phone at night for a week, and since then there have only been occasional apparently malicious calls during the daytime.

26 January 2004 - A courier tried to deliver another parcel from Home Shopping, a company who had sent at least two parcels previously.

26 January 2004 - Royal Mail delivered three DVDs and an unopened letter with "Thank you for joining Britannia" on the front of the envelope. My new laissez faire policy consigned the items unopened to my garage. Though nearly all parcels have been refused or returned, and some items have been thrown away, there are now over 350 items in my garage.

27 January 2004 - Royal Mail pushed another DVD from Britannia through my letterbox this morning.

3 February - Plumbs telephoned for an appointment, which I had not asked for, to measure my furniture for fitted covers.
16 February 2004 - Underwear company rang to arrange an appointment for fitting.
5 April - Loan company rang to say I had asked about a loan.
7 April - Cornhill Insurance Co. rang as a follow-up to stuff they had been asked to send through the post.
8 April - Kitchen Magic 'phoned as a follow-up to stuff they had been asked to send about kitchens.
8 April - Courier arrived with a parcel from Damart, which she took away again.

21 April - Went out at 9 a.m. Returned at 9.48 to find that my drive had been blocked by the wooden post designed for that purpose and a wheelie bin which had been taken from the far side of my bungalow. (On 2/8/04, P.C.Francis claimed that his investigations had shown that the bin was moved by the refuse collection service. This was not so: the bin had been out of sight, it was a general refuse bin, not a green bin - this week seems to have been a green-bin week - and the bin collection is made soon after 7 a.m.)

May 2004 - Plants in my front garden - irises, pelargoniums and alyssum - died unexpectedly after a few days.

25 June 2004 - LNB and bracket stolen from the satellite dish in my back garden between 00:00 and 08.15 a.m. (Crime number: EW2/4174/04). Four days before (21st June), I had mentioned my use of a satellite receiver to another near neighbour. The dish had been installed in May 2003. As I did not witness the theft, the police did not bother to examine the scene and the damage caused to a fence, evidently by someone climbing over it. This meant that I was deprived of satellite television and radio for six months.

17 July - Four cars of visitors to the Mabrys or belonging to the Mabrys were parked on a shared access area next to my drive, and the following morning I found that a post blocking access to my drive had been thrown on to the lawn (tagged by the police as Incident 530 18/07/04).

19 July - This morning I found that the post blocking access to my drive had been thrown down on the drive (tagged as Incident 286 19/07/04).

24 July - At roughly 2.25 p.m., I was reproofing a shed at the bottom of my back garden when Mr McCombie started shouting at me in an abusive and threatening manner. When I had complained to the police of the McCombies' abusive language before, P.C.Wilkinson had told me that we have free speech in this country. When I complained about it to Eastbourne County Court, His Honour Judge Coltart did nothing to curb the practice. Not wishing to shout abuse back, I said what I thought of the McCombies on the Internet. I told Mr McCombie of this. He called to his friend Mabry, the side gate to my property was smashed in, and my garden was invaded by six people, three of whom assaulted and threatened me. It started with McCombie who grabbed hold of me, shook me about, and made serious threats about what would happen to me in the future if I did not move out of my property. Mabry then did likewise, followed by Mrs McCombie, who after grabbing hold of me hit me across the left side of the head with her right hand. I did not retaliate, except for trying to push Mr McCombie away with my right hand, which was holding a paintbrush. (Incident 1128 of 24/07/04).

The following months were unremarkable, except for the sight of the smirk on Mabry's face when he first caught sight of me after my arrest.

The Mabrys left Stone Cross and Sussex early in Christmas week, 2004. I did not receive an obscene Christmas card as I had done in 2002 and 2003. I have received no more unwanted goods, and the flow of maliciously-prompted mail has been reduced to the occasional repeat posting from companies who continue to send stuff out despite having received no response whatever from previous mailings.