Dog groomer ordered to pay £1,300 for wrecking her neighbour's planter

A PENSIONER dog groomer has been ordered to pay more than £1,300 after she repeatedly vandalised her neighbour's planter — put out to stop her customers parking on his lawn.

- Callum Hoare

Jean Smith, 74, spent 18 months damaging Darren Collins's wooden box, spraying it with luminous spray paint, magistrates were told.

The "nuisance neighbour" was also accused of "deliberately demolishing" another one by driving over it, which she claimed was accidental.

But Smith was found guilty of multiple counts of criminal damage by Basingstoke magistrates.

The court was told of 10 occasions between January 2023 and January 2024 when she defaced a planter with reflective tape and luminous spray paint, often moving her car to block a CCTV camera as she did so.

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Mr Collins told the court he had "no choice" but to put two planters he made himself on the edge of his front lawn as her dog grooming clients kept "driving on to" his grass.