A horrified couple caught a neighbour on camera appearing to pour urine through their letterbox and 'cat poo' on their car over a parking row - yet cops say they can't do anything. Sue and Martin Waters were on holiday in Cyprus iwhen they received a notification from their doorbell camera alerting them to someone being on their property.
The footage, from the early hours in the morning, shows their neighbour walking up to their doorstep holding a bottle in gloved hands and appearing to open their letterbox and pour the liquid inside. He then comes back holding a solid item, believed to be cat poo, in a tissue while another male can also be seen appearing to smear it on Sue's car with a tissue.
Footage shows the mystery pair spending almost four hours going back and forth outside Sue, 59, and 61-year-old Martin's home, seemingly unaware that everything was being caught on camera. Fearing the liquid being poured into their home could be petrol, the couple sent their daughter and son-in-law round to check on the property, who say they were met with the stench of urine.
Sue claims tensions began to build with a neighbour after he claimed a 'visitor's parking spot' on their estate was his space and took issue with them and their guests using it. The furious mum, who works with special needs children, says she now feels 'on edge' in her own home especially as Hampshire Police have dropped the case.
But police say the incident is an ongoing dispute where both parties have made complaints and they will 'take further action if a criminal offence is identified'.
Sue, from Andover, Hampshire, said: "Before we went on holiday I had just got a new car and I said to my husband 'I don't trust him, I want cameras up'. While we were on holiday I woke up at 7am and looked at my phone and was horrified to see his face.
"We could see that he was tipping liquid through our letterbox but we had no idea what it was - whether it was petrol or something - no idea. It turned out he was putting urine through the letterbox and cat poo everywhere - he put it on my car and the doorstep and he'd even gone round to my back gate and put urine on my bins as well.
"He was picking up bits of cat poo and moving it and then picking it up again and moving it somewhere else and this went on for hours. It spoiled days of our holiday because I was feeling physically sick seeing what he was doing to our house.
"Our daughter and son-in-law cleared it up for us and they were steaming the floor but I had to throw out my rug because it stunk of urine. We were so upset. I think he's absolutely disgusting. I feel quite intimidated by it all. I'd love him to be moved because it's just not nice to have to see him daily. It's put me on edge."
Sue and Martin believe the urine poured through their letterbox was human due to it being in a water bottle, while the faeces appeared to have come from a cat. The baffled couple say neither they nor the neighbour have a cat but there is often poo from a local cat on the grass verges around their estate, which they believe is where he got it from.
They claim the neighbour's bizarre actions seemed to stem from anger that they and their visiting children sometimes parked in a 'communal space', which he was attempting to claim as his own. They say he even knocked on their house and asked their daughter to move her car one day and allegedly asked other neighbours whose car was in 'his' spot whenever other family members parked there.
After that the family claim to have noticed strange things happening to their vehicles whenever they parked there. Sue says all of her tyres were let down when she parked there to make room for visitors one day and their son-in-law's car was covered in coffee and cat poo when he parked there overnight another time.
Sue said: "Before this we said 'hello' and when he said anything about parking we said 'yes but it's a visitor's space'. He said 'they told me it was my space' and we said 'no it's for visitors, anyone can park there, we've got the plans'.
"He knew that, he was one of those that if he could bully you and make you think it's his space he would like that. This carried on and he said to various neighbours 'you can park there if you want' - trying to make everyone think it's his space but they all knew it wasn't.
"I didn't have a problem if he parked in that spot, I only had a problem with him knocking and asking us to move out of a visitor's space. If he wanted to park there we couldn't care less, we don't care who parks there. It's not a parking dispute on our part.
"We've never asked the neighbours 'whose car is that?' - he could park there for six years and we don't care, just don't come knocking and asking us to move our car."
The couple claim they have had to throw away their hallway rug due to the stench of urine even after their daughter cleaned it with a steamer. They say that police visited their property and viewed the doorbell camera footage but emailed weeks later to say they wouldn't be taking the case any further, as the neighbour's actions weren't 'criminal'.
Sue said: "The police are saying it's not a criminal act so he's got away with everything scot-free. Basically someone can be on your property, putting poo on your car and putting urine through your door for hours and that's not a criminal act.
"But if my husband was to wee in the street they would class that as a criminal act. The policeman said if he'd done damage to my car worth £500 then they might have done something but they didn't care about what he'd done to my property.
"How much more evidence do you need? It's absolutely ridiculous. If you've got a doorbell the camera, the evidence isn't worth diddly squat."
A Hampshire Police spokesman said: "This relates to an ongoing neighbour dispute between two parties in Andover. Both parties have made allegations against one another about their behaviours, and police have spoken to all involved with suggestions of how to resolve this matter.
"The specific incident relates to the period of 1am-4am on 6 August. Police viewed CCTV which showed a tissue being wiped on a car and a liquid being poured around the front door area of a property.
"Police have inspected the car and the property and there is no damage, or evidence that the behaviour meets the standard for criminal prosecution. No further criminal action is being taken in relation to this incident. Neighbour disputes can be very complex, and police will take further action if a criminal offence is identified.
"We will also make efforts to engage with all parties and any other key partner agencies to try and resolve the issues, through mediation for example. Neighbour disputes are often civil matters. Further advice and guidance on resolving civil neighbour disputes, including exploring mediation, can be found on the government website: https://www.gov.uk/how-to-resolve-neighbour-disputes."
