Late night music lands Brighton mum with £400 fine (From The Argus)
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Late night music lands Brighton mum with £400 fine
1:50pm Friday 19th October 2012 in News By Anna Roberts, Crime reporter
A mother-of-eight kept neighbours awake by blasting out “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” late at night.
Debra Dawson played pop tunes by girl band The Saturdays, Coldplay and the Righteous Brothers until the small hours.
Now she has been handed a heavy fine for ignoring council demands to keep the noise down.
Len Batten, prosecuting for Brighton and Hove City Council, told Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday (October 18) that complaints had been made about Dawson’s home in Stanmer Park Road, Brighton, as long ago as 1997.
Dawson was issued with a noise abatement notice by the council ordering her to be quiet but complaints continued to flood in.
Members of the council’s noise team visited neighbours’ homes to listen to what residents were having to endure on September 8.
Mr Batten said a council officer visiting one of the homes heard the lyric, “You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’” blasting out.
Audible lyrics
He said: “The volume of the music was intrusive.
“The lyrics, ‘I will be there for you’ were also audible.
“There were also cheers.”
Officers also reported shouts of “Wow” and “Happy Birthday” continued as late as 12.15am.
Dawson failed to appear in court to face the charge of breaching a noise abatement notice.
District Judge Stephen Nicholls accepted that the notice had been breached, contrary to the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
He fined Dawson £400 and ordered her to pay costs of £1,000 and a victim surcharge of £15.
She will have 14 days to arrange payment.
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Comments(15)
magoo
says...
2:34pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Hoarder12345444
says...
3:07pm Fri 19 Oct 12
magoo wrote:Clearly doesnt have to be up for work does she, doing it that late.
Without making sweeping generalisations about the intelligence of a person that has EIGHT children, how do they expect a women with EIGHT children to be able to afford to pay a fine?
she'll be on massive benefits and will be more idle than an arm chair I should imagine. Having 8 kids is grotesque because she obviously isnt the sort of person who can pay for them. Having kids to get benefits. Who actually needs 8 kids, its just completely wrong.
tooned_in
says...
3:22pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Crystal Ball
says...
3:24pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Maxwell's Ghost
says...
3:25pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Let's just get rid of this type of trash from the city.
Come on council, slap an anti-social behaviour order on the property and board it up.
keeshond8
says...
3:31pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Such interaction might help her to appreciate other peoples' feelings and could be enforced with the threat of a custodial sentence in the event of a stipulated number of no shows.
leobrighton
says...
3:36pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Fairfax Sakes
says...
3:39pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Somethingsarejustwrong
says...
9:05am Sat 20 Oct 12
Maxwell's Ghost
says...
10:49am Sat 20 Oct 12
For goodness sake council get social services around there and sort it out.
Cash Bull
says...
11:36am Sat 20 Oct 12
keeshond8
says...
1:09pm Sat 20 Oct 12
SomethingsarejustwroNobody is supporting the benefits culture on this site.
ng wrote:
The perfect family model, brought to you by the benefits culture supported by many of the posters on this site.
If you don't understand what people have written you only undermine your own contribution.
Somethingsarejustwrong
says...
2:10pm Sat 20 Oct 12
keeshond8 wrote:You are factually incorrect and would do well to research a little deeper in future before making yourself a laughing stock
SomethingsarejustwroNobody is supporting the benefits culture on this site.
ng wrote:
The perfect family model, brought to you by the benefits culture supported by many of the posters on this site.
If you don't understand what people have written you only undermine your own contribution.
Lolliecatt
says...
8:54pm Wed 24 Oct 12
I hope that this nastiness will stop and we can all go back to living our normal lives and leave this innocent family... Debra has eight children, yes, but that doesnt not mean they should be put into care or taken away from her at all as it is six of them dont even live at home anymore. Obviously most people are not going to listen to me but please think about how you would feel if it was you in her position.
downbythesea says...
2:29pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Why does the noise patrol only work on Fridays and Saturdays when the problem occurs all week round from inconsiderate sc u m and noisy students?
The council is a complete JOKE when it comes to prosecuting people or even taking action!!!!!
Their new HMO regulation is a joke too, they supposedly have no power to ensure noisy houses are insulated for noise or have double glazing to reduce noise affecting others etc etc..
Even then you have to put up with it, do a noise diary, and then all they do is send a letter to the people! COMPLETE USELESS JOKE OF A SERVICE!