10:58pm UK, Thursday May 18, 2006

A judge has slapped an ASBO on a woman accused of turning an idyllic community into a "hamlet of horrors".

Jeanne Wilding, a retired financial manager, was accused of being "at war" with at least 15 neighbours in rural West Yorkshire.

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Wilding: 'Woman at war'

A court heard problems started when the 57-year-old moved to Bottomley in 2002.

Among the catalogue of complaints was playing a choral work "about rape, pillage and the trashing of villages", causing extensive damage to vehicles and beaming floodlights into her neighbour's home.

She booby trapped plant pots, tipped oil over her neighbour's drive at night and dumped dead animals, rubbish, dog faeces, glass and nails on the road.

Wilding - who walked out of court before the ASBO was granted - was described as a "comfortably" well off woman who rents out "three or four" properties in London.

She has been arrested more than 30 times in the past two years, with more than 250 alleged incidents reported in less than 16 months.

The court heard she had appeared in the dock so many times she spent longer with security guards than her family.

James Ward, for Calderdale Council, said Wilding had been running a "rampaging campaign of hatred and pure evil" which turned her community into a "hamlet of horrors".

He described her as "an expert in the art of mental torture" and a "professional trouble causer", who had created traumatic levels of harassment, alarm and distress.

Danielle Graham, defending, said: "These things started out as neighbour problems in a small close-knit community where people talk and gossip is exchanged.

"This talk seemed to spread into groups that she worked with and the police became involved.

"There's ill-feeling on all sides in this case. Much of what has been said in court has been opinion."