THE woman who painted her heritage house pink has told The Argus it was a ‘cry for help’ as the property was restored to white.

Alexandra Capone, 40, sparked uproar when she painted the former lifeboat house on Worthing seafront deep pink back in March.

Speaking to The Argus at the house in Marine Parade the mother, who is subject to an anti-social behaviour order, told how her life had spiralled out of control since moving to England in 1997.

“It was a cry for help,” she said.

“I was in a vicious circle.”

The change in colour back to white comes amid continued complaints of problems around the house and about her behaviour.

On Saturday evening Ms Capone was arrested following what police described as a “disturbance” outside her house.

She was accused of breaching her anti-social behaviour order and appeared in custody at Crawley Magistrates’ Court on Monday (August 10).

She has been bailed to appear at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on October 2.

Separately, she is accused of stealing items worth £10.17 from a Spar store in Heene Road, Worthing, and is due to appear again at Worthing magistrates’ court on August 18.

A charge of breaching her anti-social behaviour order in May has been dismissed, Brighton magistrates' court confirmed.

It is understood the house was painted white by a man living there last week, who is no longer there.

The new lick of paint has not been overwhelmingly welcomed by residents.

One said: “People are certainly happy it is white, but it has been painted appallingly.

“It was a bit of a mixed thing, the pink: I think an awful lot of people would have accepted it if it had been a really nice quality, done so people could live with it. Pink is a traditional colour.”

Ms Capone was given an anti-social behaviour order in February 2015, lasting two years, following repeated complaints about her behaviour.

The order bans her from causing alarm to the public, using or threatening violence towards the public, and being drunk or possessing alcohol in a public place (other than a licensed premises).

She is also banned from entering Rowlands Road, Montague Street, Western Place and Western Row, Worthing, and making noise inside her home loud enough to be heard from outside.

Appearing at court on Monday over the alleged anti-social behaviour order breach, she was given an electronically monitored night-time curfew.

AL CAPONE: I'M A RUSSIAN SPY AND I HAVE AN ALLIGATOR IN MY BATH...

THE most notorious resident in Worthing lights a cigarette, takes a glug of beer from a can and starts to tell her story.

“My name is Alexandra Capone,” she begins, “changed by deed poll in 2008. I came to this country in approximately 1997.”

The name is well-known among residents and authorities in her adopted seaside town.

It was Ms Capone’s late night parties, shouting and general anti-social behaviour which drew 25 angry people to a public meeting about her, called by police in 2013.

Ms Capone is now banned from swathes of Worthing, banned from playing loud music, and is still the subject of persistent complaints from neighbours.

Earlier this year, she painted her pretty heritage house garish pink, sparking local outrage.

“I painted my house pink,” she says, dismissing the furore. “Did I kill anybody?”

Today the house is back to white, albeit a bright white that is mismatched in its cream surroundings.

And the 40-year-old mother is back living inside – despite reports from a supposed friend that she had gone back to her native Russia.

First, she wants to clear up the matter of her name. It is nothing like that of the late Chicago gangster, despite the inevitable jokes.

“It is pronounced Capo-nee,” she says, stressing the ‘nee’ in her distinctive Russian accent. “Not Cap-own. Ale-ks-andrra Capo-nee.”

She was originally Alexandra Salnikova when she arrived from Russia, and Alexandra Woolnough not long after.

Tonight, a friend is helping clear up her spacious home at 107 Marine Parade, the former Worthing lifeboat station she owns.

He sweeps beer cans, food remnants and other detritus off the parquet flooring, later breaking into a can of pie for them to share for dinner.

Her dog, who she calls Mr Perky, is not around. “I hide him,” she says, smiling in a way that makes you not quite sure what’s coming next.

“There’s an alligator in the bath upstairs,” her friend points out. “Well, it’s sort of a big lizard, really,” he later adds.

The mess is due to people who broke into her house and stayed, Ms Capone says, rather than her own partying, which has drawn neighbours’ ire.

“Lots of strange people have burgled my life,” she said, sitting on her living room sofa as she spoke, occasionally adjusting the sunglasses on her head.

Over the weekend, two inhabitants of the house were “thrown out by two extremely large Russian gentlemen”, according to a nearby resident.

It has not always been like this. Residents who now complain tend to agree that, for a period, her house was the trouble it became.

“My name at that time was Alexandra Olga Salnikova,” she continued, recalling when she came to England. “My daughter is a beautiful girl. She is really successful at whatever she does. She speaks beautiful English and beautiful Russian.”

Ms Capone worked for a high-end company, she said, after attending university in Moscow and then ran her own businesses.

“I had no help from anyone, just me,” she said. “I ran four businesses. I had come to this country to build up my life.

“I had never asked for government benefits. I had never asked for government help. I have always put back and love people and help lots and lots of homeless people.

“Basically, in 2006 I was a successful businesswoman and the nicest landlady and had a really good life and my daughter was in private school.

“I have been in a vicious circus, a Moscow circus.”

As she tells it, however, things started to fall apart. Her mother was hit by a car and killed in Moscow in 2008. Relationships in England started to break down. There were battles, to put it mildly.

Her children, the eldest now an adult, no longer live with her. She said experiences they have gone through mean she worries deeply about them.

“They have destroyed me,” she said, recalling the past ten years, when her behaviour has worsened, personal troubles deepened, and battles with alcohol persisted.

Tonight, she is not allowed far beyond the iron-gate metres from her front door on the road front. She is on electronic tag by authorities.

A woman from the tagging service arrives half way through the evening to set up some equipment. The pair disappear upstairs.

Downstairs, Mona Lisa stares into the room from a large painting at the back. “It’s a real one,” says her friend.

Later, Ms Capone says she is a Russian spy. There’s an organ with a Bible on top. Ms Capone is Russian Orthodox and “very religious”, she says.

For now, she has no plans to repaint the house pink. “It was a cry for help,” she said.