Pensioner faces jail after ruining neighbours’ dinner with lawnmower
Pensioner faces jail after ruining neighbours’ dinner with lawnmower
Telegraph reportersTue, May 26, 2026 at 6:15 PM UTC
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Zoi Hayes was handed a restraining order after damaging ‘a single sweet pea flower’ belonging to her neighbours in 2021 - Andrew Croft/Solent News & Photo Agency
A 15-year-long row could end in prison time after a pensioner left her lawnmower running to “annoy” her neighbours who were hosting a dinner party.
Zoi Hayes, 68, is facing up to a year in jail for breaching a restraining order against Peter and Corinne Rotherham, 60 and 61, when she turned on her mower and “just left it” to disturb the couple and their six guests.
She had been feuding with Mr and Mrs Rotherham since they moved in next door in Urchfont, Wiltshire.
In 2021, Hayes was handed a restraining order after she “damaged a single sweet pea flower” belonging to the Rotherhams.
Two years later, Hayes pleaded guilty to breaching the terms of the restraining order, which banned her from doing anything to “pester” the couple. She received a six-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, for the breach.
While her neighbours were hosting a dinner party for the first time in “a number of years”, Hayes turned on her lawnmower and “just left it” to “frustrate and annoy” Mr and Mrs Rotherham and their guests – one of whom asked her to turn it off.
The breach of the restraining order, which amounts to harassment in a court of law, can carry a sentence of up to a year in prison.
‘Frustrating and annoying’ neighbours
Cristiane Finlay, prosecuting at Salisbury magistrates’ court, said: “The brief facts of the matter are that Mrs Rotherham had been Mrs Hayes’s neighbour for 15 years with a long-standing history of a neighbourhood dispute between the parties.
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“She had a previous conviction on Feb 23, 2021, and she had a restraining order in place until Feb 22, 2026, after she damaged property.
“The conditions were to not contact, pester or annoy Corinne Rotherham or Peter Rotherham.”
Ms Finlay continued: “This is a matter which is, at best, a deliberate breach, as what she’s done effectively is pestering the victim by leaving her lawnmower on while the victim Mrs Rotherham was having a dinner party with six of her friends.
“She hasn’t been able to do that for a number of years but, to frustrate and annoy her, Ms Hayes has put her lawnmower on and just left it there.
“One of the party attendees spoke to her about it and asked her to switch it off, which she did.”
Raymond Tan, defending, said: “She is no longer living next to the neighbour. She moved out in January.”
He added: “It’s clear they don’t get on. She was living there for 20 years and they lived next to each other for 15 years.”
Sentencing will take place at a later date.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
