RAPEL after neighbour spiked my tea

A friendly barbecue turned to horror for Juanita Greenhalgh

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As the sun shone, I was relaxing in my deckchair when my neighbour Sarah*, then 55, popped her head over the fence. It was May 2020, and as Covid lockdown rules were being relaxed, we chatted about the beautiful weather.

Just then, a young man with black hair and brown eyes wandered by, introducing himself as our new neighbour.

Meynard lived on the next street over and, after some chit-chat, he went on his way. But he was back the next day, chatting to me a I relaxed in my garden.

I told Meynard that I was retired. My kids, Adam, then 37, Toni, 33, Zoe, 35, and Steph, 28, had flown the nest years earlier and had their own busy lives. I'd been divorced from their dad since 2003, and had been mostly single ever since.

Now, I struggled with back pain and type 2 diabetes, and I didn't leave the house much, even before lockdown, so I told him how nice it was to have someone new to talk to.

The next day, my daughter Steph and I were heading out for a walk with her partner Jerome, then 27, and my granddaughter, six, when Meynard appeared, so he joined us for our walk. Steph liked him, too, and I felt pleased to have made a new friend.

Later, I bumped into him near the corner shop and he invited me to a barbecue in his back garden. I rarely left the house, so I thought it’d be fun. When I arrived, I enjoyed chatting to some of the neighbours who I recognised. Having not drunk alcohol for nine years, due to my diabetes, I stuck to water.

Corner shop

Meanwhile, Meynard was busy flipping beef burgers and grilling sausages. After a few hours he ran out of meat, so I offered to buy more. Meynard walked with me to the corner shop, where I paid for some steaks and sausages on my card. Then he helped me to carry the bags to his, and went back to manning the barbecue.