13 November 2023 , 19:09
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A social worker has been branded a "serial complainer" as she nearly landed her neighbour in jail after she accused him of "damaging" her flowers in a bitter feud.
Karen Chazen, 54, issued dozens of complaints against her tradesman neighbour James Monk. She claimed he jammed her wi-fi, "over-revved" his work van and taunted her with music at their apartment block in Waterloo, Liverpool. Sefton magistrates court heard how she filed 30 different police reports against the plasterer and alleged he purposely parked his vehicle outside her window so she couldn't see outside. Miss Chazen, who also works as a yoga teacher, further claimed that he whistled Orbison's 1960 hit "Only the Lonely" because she lived alone.
Her allegations went as far as to say he was the reason why her Fiat 500 car had been broken into. She alleged that he found a way to interfere with the locking mechanism which allowed someone to open the driver's door and snatch a bottle of wine. Mr Monk was told he could face up to six months in prison after being charged with harassment. However, the case was thrown out after it emerged Miss Chazen had also complained about her previous neighbours.
James Monk (James Monk/ Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)The court also heard how she complained to the owner of the flat block about water damage to her ceiling and light fittings when no leaks were found. She then filed a staggering 14 different complaints about the police investigation into Mr Monk. Miss Chazen gave officers three witness statements about her neighbour - one amounting to 18 pages. He was eventually driven out of his home due to the mounting allegations being made against him. Problems began on the actual day Miss Chazen moved into the flat below him in June 2022.
"I had an infection which needed root canal surgery and there was lots of noise upstairs which went on for four hours," she told the hearing. Nobody likes somebody knocking on a door asking you to be quiet and I just said 'I'm awfully sorry, I am unwell' but Mr Monk replied 'I've got a f***ing kid'". Miss Chazen, who wept in the witness box, said she had to start moving neighbours' wheelie bins which kept mysteriously being left outside her flat. She alleged Mr Monk had thrown a bin at her on one occasion.
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She added: "He would rev it [ his van ] 10 or 20 times as he arrived and left. He would also beep the horn at all times of the day and up to 8pm. At times my car was blocked in so that I could not leave the driveway and I had to wait until he had gone out to avoid abuse. I was frightened to leave. I believe he tampered with the CCTV. He knocked the camera so it was pointing down so that it could not record anything and was also banging on the windows constantly four or five or six times a day. His behaviour got worse, became more frequent, more nasty.
"There was name calling, banging on the windows, banging on the door, just intimidating me, several times a day." A series of CCTV clips were played to court showing Monk's van making one loud rev noise or beeping twice as he goes out whilst others showed an unknown person making a wolf whistle. Photos taken by Miss Chazen showed Mr Monk's van parked up close to her bedroom window with the vehicle covering the flower bed - but not on the flowers themselves.
Karen was found to have made similar complaints against her old neighbours (Karen Chazen/ Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)Under cross-examination Mr Monk's counsel, Mr Ellis, told how when Miss Chazen was living at her previous home, she made complaints about workmen starting work before 8am and accused the site manager of verbally abusing her. She had also accused a neighbour at her previous property of banging on her doors, using a designated car parking space, having noisy French bulldogs and slamming her doors late at night. She also called police to claim the neighbour had killed her sunflowers. Mr Ellis told her: "There was a pattern going on. For ten years, Mr Monk is there without any problems whatsoever. When you move in he apparently turns into a Mr Hyde character who is making your life hell. Strange that.
"You were desperate to get police around to tell him off even though he had not done anything. Police got complaint after complaint after complaint but the only person who is causing any problem is you. There is a queue of people you have complained about. You are a serial complainer, are you not?" In response, Miss Chazen replied: "I know my rights. I am a serial victim."
In dismissing the case JP Charles Wood said: "We have to consider the credibility of the complainant and she was not consistent, she was vague, and at times somewhat confused. "We did not feel that the prosecution proved all the required elements of evidence. There has to be two or more behaviours to constitute a course of harassment but we found no evidence that would show that." Mr Monk and Miss Chazen both declined to comment after the case.