Grammar error lets Towyn man walk free

Feb 23 2008 by Gareth Hughes, Daily Post

A MAN accused of breaching a court order preventing him from harassing his neighbours walked free from court yesterday because it was so clumsily worded it was unusable

Nicholas Turner, 23, was appearing before Prestatyn magistrates to face four charges of breaching the restraining order imposed last July.

It had been made following complaints from his next-door neighbours in Towyn, Malcolm and Brenda Hart, that he had bombarded their house and caravan with stones and eggs.

The order prohibited him from throwing items at the couple’s home in Bryn Teg, making offensive gestures towards them and their son Simon and from being under the influence of alcohol in public.

Yesterday the court was told that he had denied four breaches of the order in September, October and December and a trial was due to be held.

But prosecutor Darrell Jones said that while preparing the court papers he had noticed that the formal notice handed to Turner following the hearing last July had been incorrectly worded and contained a double negative, prohibiting him from “not doing certain activities”.

“The effect was that it was virtually encouraging him to do the very opposite of what the court intended to prevent him doing,” said Mr Jones.

“The result is that I cannot prove the breaches today,” he said.

The magistrates dismissed the charges but then made an amended order on the lines originally intended and chairman Peter Jones said it would remain in force until a further order was made.

Turner, who was said at last year’s hearing to be suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), is now living in Oldgate Road, Prestatyn.

Turner and the Harts hit the headlines nationally in 2005 in a row over a clematis growing between the two properties.

Turner was cleared of causing criminal damage to the clematis belonging to the couple, but a friend of his was found guilty.

But he was then caught on CCTV throwing stones and eggs at the Harts’ property between December, 2006, and January last year, and pleaded guilty to harassment.

Last July Turner was given a 20-week prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay the Harts £700 in compensation.

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