A former Thomas Cook flight attendant has been jailed for 24 months after carrying out a "vendetta" of harassment against his neighbour, which a court heard made her life "unbearable".
Barrie Wilks, 41, of Craig yr Henffordd, Penegoes, Machynlleth, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court after pleading guilty to four counts of breaching a restraining order and four counts of criminal damage.
Campaign of harassment
The court heard that Wilks and the complainant had been neighbours for around five years and initially enjoyed a "friendly relationship". However, matters deteriorated and the defendant embarked on a "persistent course of harassment" which resulted in a conviction in December last year and the imposition of a two-year restraining order.
Throughout June this year, Wilks breached the order on multiple occasions. These breaches included leaning over her fence and opening her garden gate, climbing fences, making "menacing faces" into her CCTV cameras while carrying a hammer, and nailing large corrugated metal sheets to posts to block her security cameras.
The matters were reported to police and the defendant was arrested, becoming "agitated" during his interview before being released on bail. He resumed his behaviour towards his neighbour the following day, daubing her fence with green paint. He was arrested again and, while in custody, tried to flush a blanket down the toilet in his cell.
Previous convictions
In an impact statement read to the court by the prosecution barrister, the victim said Wilks' behaviour had made her life "unbearable".
Wilks has eight previous convictions for 17 offences, including multiple criminal damages, public disorder, assaulting emergency workers, and harassment. In 2021, he was sentenced to eight months in prison for assaulting two police officers who were trying to arrest him. At that sentencing hearing, the court was told he was found wearing a wig and hiding under a blanket in a shed in Penegoes. When officers took hold of him, he "erupted into violence and became extremely aggressive", leading to a protracted struggle lasting around 25 minutes. During the struggle, he pulled a Pava spray canister from one officer's belt and made a grab for a Taser stun gun.
His last conviction was from March this year, when he was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay £1,000 compensation for obstructing an engine or carriage using a railway.
Sentencing
Harry Dickens, for Wilks, said neighbour disputes unfortunately often give rise to "bad behaviour" and said the defendant realises he has to go through the "proper channels" to resolve any issues. The barrister said the breaches could best be characterised as Wilks "pushing his luck" and that his client wants to say sorry for what he has done.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said whatever the rights and wrongs of the neighbour dispute, the simple fact was court orders are there to be obeyed and the defendant has to leave his victim alone. He said Wilks "seems determined to make her life a misery" and described his conduct as a "vendetta". The judge noted that Wilks had continued his behaviour even while on bail.
With a 10 per cent discount for his guilty pleas, Wilks was sentenced to 22 months in prison. The judge activated two months of the previously imposed suspended sentence to run consecutively, making an overall sentence of 24 months. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence.
