Court closes Hartlepool house after woman made neighbours' lives a misery with harassment, abuse and loud music

Kelly Poad, 45, is now barred from entering 25 Colenso Street, Hartlepool, for three months after community safety officials had a closure order granted in court.

Teesside magistrates heard how Poad continued to plague eight neighbours with her anti-social behaviour even after “repeated arrests and convictions”.

Hartlepool Community Safety Team said her misbehaviour included being drunk and disorderly, harassment, targeting of residents, assault, criminal damage, verbal abuse and threatening and intimidating behaviour.

She also with played “excessively loud and persistent music at all hours of the day and night”.

The application was supported by the property’s landlord and a number of witness statements and victim impact statements from households targeted by Poad.

All of the victims and their households were vulnerable due to age, illness, disability or personal circumstances.

Councillor Shane Moore, chair of the Safer Hartlepool Partnership and the leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, said: “A single individual should not be able to make other people’s lives a misery in this way and I am pleased that the Hartlepool Community Safety Team has been able to secure this closure order.

“A lot of work was required to gather the evidence needed to support the application, and I would like to thank everyone who played a part.

“I particularly want to praise those residents who were willing to come forward and provide us with vital evidence despite being subjected to the most horrendous abuse.”

Anyone who witnesses an order being breached should call the police on 101 or 999 during emergencies.