{"id":147173,"date":"2018-06-27T10:37:25","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T10:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/the-couple-banned-from-staring-through-neighbours-windows\/"},"modified":"2018-06-27T10:37:25","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T10:37:25","slug":"the-couple-banned-from-staring-through-neighbours-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/the-couple-banned-from-staring-through-neighbours-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"The couple banned from staring through neighbours’ windows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nigel
Image caption Sheila and Nigel Jacklin have been banned from looking through their neighbours' windows <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prosecutions for breaking Community Protection Notices - sometimes known as the new Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbos) - are on the rise in England and Wales. But there are concerns the powers are being used unfairly, with no need to prove the accusations being made.<\/p>\n

"I'm desperately sad that this has happened," Sheila Jacklin tells the BBC Victoria Derbyshire programme. <\/p>\n

"I put on a brave face, because you have to. But I am deeply sad." <\/p>\n

Sheila has lived with her husband Nigel in their home on the East Sussex coast for 26 years.<\/p>\n

It was the idea of being moments from the beach that first attracted them to the area, Sheila says.<\/p>\n

But taking their normal path to the seafront means they now risk breaking the law.<\/p>\n

Image caption The CPN means Nigel and Sheila are not allowed to drive on the area in front of their house <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is because the couple have been accused of "harassing" their neighbours during a planning dispute, and been issued with a warning letter for a Community Protection Notice (CPN).<\/p>\n

It means they are subject to a number of rules which, if broken, could see them given a full CPN - which it is a criminal offence to breach.<\/p>\n

The couple are not allowed to walk in a large area in front of their house, be perceived to be looking at any windows in their village or walk on the beach in front of their house.<\/p>\n

They deny the claims of harassment, and say the council has placed the restrictions on them without hearing their side.<\/p>\n

CPNs are designed to prevent unreasonable behaviour that affects the local community's quality of life, and are the closest of new powers to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbos), which were replaced in 2015 in England and Wales.<\/p>\n

But, unlike Asbos, the CPN warning letters can be issued by police and councils without proof of the claims being made, and without going through the courts.<\/p>\n

Image caption A copy of the Jacklins' CPN warning letter <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sheila describes the CPN warning as "ridiculous".<\/p>\n

"[The exclusion zone] looks as if someone's got a red crayon and gone round [an arbitrary area]. There's no logic to it."<\/p>\n

Rother District Council said: "In this case, Sussex Police issued a warning letter on behalf of the council in an attempt to resolve a long-standing neighbourhood dispute."<\/p>\n

Image caption The exclusion zone placed on Sheila and Nigel <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Jacklins say they continue to walk in the area in front of their home, breaking their warning, and are expecting to be given a full CPN - which they say they will challenge in court.<\/p>\n

"We are just doing what we have been doing for 26 years, so we'll continue to [go there]," says Nigel, resolutely.<\/p>\n

Breaking a CPN can lead to a fine, and and multiple breaches can result in prison.<\/p>\n

In the year ending September 2017, there were more than 1,220 prosecutions for breaching CPNs, a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Justice has found.<\/p>\n

This was a 42% rise on the previous 12 months, the Victoria Derbyshire programme has found, when there were 855 prosecutions - of which 75% were successful.<\/p>\n

The full number of CPN warning letters issued each year is not known.<\/p>\n

Shouting, crying, arguing<\/h2>\n

Josie Appleton from the Manifesto Club, which campaigns for civil liberties, has concerns over how CPNs are issued - and says they are "very hard to appeal".<\/p>\n

"A CPN can literally be written on a form, and after that it's a crime for you to do what they say you do.<\/p>\n

"I really think that councils are not in the position to be issuing these legal sanctions against people.<\/p>\n

"It's a completely arbitrary power. And where you have arbitrary powers you have bad law enforcement."<\/p>\n

Image caption Josie Appleton says CPNs are very hard to appeal against <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Victoria Derbyshire programme has seen evidence of people receiving CPNs for shouting, crying, arguing and feeding birds in the garden.<\/p>\n

One case involved a woman in north-east England who says she was issued with a CPN after making noise while being subject to domestic violence.<\/p>\n

Joanne, who is challenging her CPN conviction, said the notice - plus a fine - was pushed through her door.<\/p>\n

She believes it originates from complaints from one neighbour.<\/p>\n

"I'm not paying the fine," she says.<\/p>\n

"I've got no previous convictions, I'm a hard-working law-abiding citizen. I don't know how it's happening."<\/p>\n

Image caption Simon Blackburn says CPNs enable the authorities to protect the public <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Simon Blackburn from the Local Government Association, however, argues that CPNs are a valuable tool for reducing anti-social behaviour.<\/p>\n

"Local authorities aren't going around looking for problems," he says, "they're responding to issues - very serious issues, often - that are reported to them.<\/p>\n

"And we have a duty to protect the public, and we take that duty very seriously."<\/p>\n

He says people have the right to appeal to a magistrates' court within 21 days, and often a warning letter is "all that's required" to ensure a change in the recipient's behaviour.<\/p>\n

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We are clear that Community Protection Orders should be used proportionately to tackle anti-social behaviour."<\/p>\n

But for Sheila, it is a power that is needlessly turning aspects of their daily life into an offence.<\/p>\n

"It's the criminalisation of us, frankly," she says.<\/p>\n

Watch the BBC's <\/strong>Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image caption Sheila and Nigel Jacklin have been banned from looking through their neighbours' windows Prosecutions for breaking Community Protection Notices - sometimes known as the new Anti-Social Behaviour Orders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}