PERSISTENT pensioner pest Derek Irons, who repeatedly breached court orders to protect his neighbours, has been put behind bars for 15 months.
Derek Irons, aged 79, was the subject of an indefinite restraining order whose terms include not contacting directly or indirectly two particular neighbours Martin Dean and David Hough.
But Liverpool Crown Court heard on (Fri) that on August 17 last year, the pensioner walked over and leaned on Mr Dean’s gate post while he was gardening.
“Irons stared and winked at him and then proceeded to shout and swear. He appeared to be drunk and was unsteady on his feet and slurring his words, saying, ‘I’m going to have all of you f….ing ba…..s. He is nothing, him’,” said Nardeen Nemat, prosecuting.
“He remained there for 20 minutes but Mr Dean ignored him and Irons left.
“On the afternoon of August 20 Mr Dean was walking his dog and he saw Irons on the grass verge scraping food and bones from his plate onto the grass. He appeared drunk and when Mr Dean got close Irons said, ‘There is too many f….ing dogs’.”
Miss Nemat said that on September 2 Mr Hough returned home about 9 pm after visiting his wife in hospital and received a phone call from Irons said, ‘It’s Derek, I’m watching the house’.
Mr Hough “felt unnerved and intimidated by the call, as there had been a previous incident when he was threatened by him,” she said.
The next day he received a further telephone call from him and when he asked if he was Derek he said ‘no’ and asked if that was the number for Dorothy Langton.
“He was afraid he would contact him again because of the history between them.”
Miss Nemat said that when arrested Irons asked who were the “grasses and snitches” and promised he would get his revenge.
Irons, of Goose Lane, Hatton, Warrington, admitted two offences of breaching the restraining order involving Mr Hough and was convicted of two similar offences involving Mr Dean.
The court heard that the defendant has 20 previous convictions for 57 offences including public disorder, threats to kill, malicious communications and repeated breaches of anti-social behaviour orders.
Miss Nemat said that he is already subject to an indefinite restraining order “but quite clearly that is not deterring the defendant from continuing to persist in behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm and distress.”
Megan Edwards, defending, said that Irons, who appeared via video link from prison, had been on remand for ten weeks and has been free from alcohol which had been an issue for him.
He has problems with his oral health and his ankle which affects his gait and is optimistic about remaining alcohol free.
“He has been subject to anti-social b behaviour orders for 13 years in total and that has isolated him,” said Miss Edwards, who added that his isolation and loneliness had perhaps influenced his offending behaviour.
She explained he had been an entrepreneur in his younger days, creating his own business which he later sold. He bought the land he lives on in 1968 and has lived there for 55 years.
He is now back in contact with his son and hopes to help him set up a business and he is in a relationship with a friend he grew up with and they have been in contact by phone every day since he has been in prison.
The judge, Recorder Matthew Happold said his antecedents showed “a long and less than glorious history”.
He jailed him for a total of 15 months and imposed a ten-year criminal behaviour order.
The conditions include not making excessive noise, not entering properties in Hatton without invitation, not to feed animals directly or indirectly in a public place including verges and not to be in a state of undress in public including his garden or house where he could be seen.
“The minimum is you must wear shorts when you can be seen,” added Recorder Habbold.
