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I wondered if anybody might be able to give my family and myself some advice about a dispute with a neighbour of ours?
Just over two years ago now my dog,an English Springer Spaniel, jumped up at my neighbours daughter as she played on her skateboard. My wife grabbed him and said to the girl “are you ok” and she said she was. The next day her dad came banging aggressively on my door demanding to talk my wife about our dog supposedly biting his daughter but we were out and my son said he'd tell us when we came back. On arrival home his partner, a lovely gentle woman whom we have known since moving in and chatted to frequently, pushed a note through the door written by her newly moved in partner demanding that my wife go and see them in their house at 7.30pm. My wife was so upset that I said I'm not having him bully you I'll go myself without warning him. Anyway to cut a long story short I secretly recorded our conversation which to be honest went well and we all shook hands and smoothed things out. They still said that she had been bitten and we said she hadn't, they didn't report it and their doctor didn't either leading me to believe that there wasn't a bite. In fact we took around a tub of Roses as an apology and they weren't in but the son said that she was a drama queen and it was a slight scratch and not a bite. I said to my wife at the time that we needed to watch him as he could be trouble I felt.
For the past few months now some of our neighbours have been saying that he is going around saying that my family have been vandalising his two cars,which we haven't been and can see no reason why we would anyway as we are all in jobs requiring a CRB check and any misdemeanours could be career ending. His partner approached my wife early on and said that his car was being scratched by someone,slyly meaning us,and did we know anything about it and did we think it was because of his colour? Then they posted letters through all the neighbours doors apart from ours saying the very same thing. Then before Christmas her son from an earlier marriage said the same to my son on the train home, my son had a go at him and said stop blaming us for it.
Just before Christmas my wife and son were taking the dog to the car and he jumped up at the fence inside our property and barked at the man. He tutted and nodded his head and said to keep control of that dog. My son told him not to nod his head at him. Then my wife told him some home truths about how nobody down this road liked him and why was he going around saying that we were vandalising his cars when we weren't and that he is a bully and his partner should wise up to the sort of man she had invited to live with her.
Just after Christmas the police called to say that he had alleged harassment against my wife and that the they wanted to check on our dog. After chatting to our neighbours they all said that we wouldn't vandalise his cars and we were good neighbours and that our dog was perfectly safe. The police visited to check on our dog and thought he was fine too.
Now this is where the story takes a turn. The man in question is a solicitor and we are just working class so we feel that people would think why would a solicitor lie to get us into trouble and that he must be telling the truth. I can assure everyone reading this that he is either lying or someone else is vandalising his cars.
We both went voluntarily to the police today about the original incident and although they couldn't say too much I feel that they are on our side. They said that there is no evidence to back up his claims and they were ready to take No Further Action but he is making their life difficult and insisting that my wife and son are interviewed under caution + 3 next week. They also hinted that we should look online about the law and also about the Bar Standards Code which I am guessing means that he could have action taken against him if they find he is lying about this incident,which he is.
So this is where we found ourselves asking you good people if you have any ideas that could help us. I'd like to ask the following;
If he is found to be lying could he be charged with wasting police time and is there a disciplinary body I could make a complaint too if things escalate?
Is he slandering my family and I by saying these things about us to neighbours and once even shouting it out in the street when his car had a puncture, according to a friendly neighbour?
As far as I can make out the police say that NFA will be taken by them but they have to go through the procedure of the interviews anyway. Could he take out a prosecution privately against us even though he has no evidence whatsoever according to the police?
Thanks for your help in advance, we are at our wits end.
David.
Just over two years ago now my dog,an English Springer Spaniel, jumped up at my neighbours daughter as she played on her skateboard. My wife grabbed him and said to the girl “are you ok” and she said she was. The next day her dad came banging aggressively on my door demanding to talk my wife about our dog supposedly biting his daughter but we were out and my son said he'd tell us when we came back. On arrival home his partner, a lovely gentle woman whom we have known since moving in and chatted to frequently, pushed a note through the door written by her newly moved in partner demanding that my wife go and see them in their house at 7.30pm. My wife was so upset that I said I'm not having him bully you I'll go myself without warning him. Anyway to cut a long story short I secretly recorded our conversation which to be honest went well and we all shook hands and smoothed things out. They still said that she had been bitten and we said she hadn't, they didn't report it and their doctor didn't either leading me to believe that there wasn't a bite. In fact we took around a tub of Roses as an apology and they weren't in but the son said that she was a drama queen and it was a slight scratch and not a bite. I said to my wife at the time that we needed to watch him as he could be trouble I felt.
For the past few months now some of our neighbours have been saying that he is going around saying that my family have been vandalising his two cars,which we haven't been and can see no reason why we would anyway as we are all in jobs requiring a CRB check and any misdemeanours could be career ending. His partner approached my wife early on and said that his car was being scratched by someone,slyly meaning us,and did we know anything about it and did we think it was because of his colour? Then they posted letters through all the neighbours doors apart from ours saying the very same thing. Then before Christmas her son from an earlier marriage said the same to my son on the train home, my son had a go at him and said stop blaming us for it.
Just before Christmas my wife and son were taking the dog to the car and he jumped up at the fence inside our property and barked at the man. He tutted and nodded his head and said to keep control of that dog. My son told him not to nod his head at him. Then my wife told him some home truths about how nobody down this road liked him and why was he going around saying that we were vandalising his cars when we weren't and that he is a bully and his partner should wise up to the sort of man she had invited to live with her.
Just after Christmas the police called to say that he had alleged harassment against my wife and that the they wanted to check on our dog. After chatting to our neighbours they all said that we wouldn't vandalise his cars and we were good neighbours and that our dog was perfectly safe. The police visited to check on our dog and thought he was fine too.
Now this is where the story takes a turn. The man in question is a solicitor and we are just working class so we feel that people would think why would a solicitor lie to get us into trouble and that he must be telling the truth. I can assure everyone reading this that he is either lying or someone else is vandalising his cars.
We both went voluntarily to the police today about the original incident and although they couldn't say too much I feel that they are on our side. They said that there is no evidence to back up his claims and they were ready to take No Further Action but he is making their life difficult and insisting that my wife and son are interviewed under caution + 3 next week. They also hinted that we should look online about the law and also about the Bar Standards Code which I am guessing means that he could have action taken against him if they find he is lying about this incident,which he is.
So this is where we found ourselves asking you good people if you have any ideas that could help us. I'd like to ask the following;
If he is found to be lying could he be charged with wasting police time and is there a disciplinary body I could make a complaint too if things escalate?
Is he slandering my family and I by saying these things about us to neighbours and once even shouting it out in the street when his car had a puncture, according to a friendly neighbour?
As far as I can make out the police say that NFA will be taken by them but they have to go through the procedure of the interviews anyway. Could he take out a prosecution privately against us even though he has no evidence whatsoever according to the police?
Thanks for your help in advance, we are at our wits end.
David.
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