A COUPLE who were banned from looking at their neighbour’s home have had the last laugh after winning a court case.
Nigel and Sheila Jacklin were embroiled in an 11-year row with their neighbour Dr Stephane Duckett and his partner in East Sussex.
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The spat in the town of Bexhill-on-Sea saw the couple accused of “chanting, staring and sticking their fingers up” at their neighbour and his partner from a nearby beach.
Both were charged with harassment, but claimed the chanting and finger-pointing were part of Mrs Jacklin’s Hindu prayer routine.
Mr Jacklin, 62, was also charged with assaulting a female friend of their neighbours during a separate row outside his £600,000 home.
However all charges against the couple were dropped when they appeared before magistrates in Brighton, East Sussex, on Tuesday.
They pleaded not guilty to harassment of their neighbour.
The decision ended the long dispute which started when the couple first complained about building work at the home of clinical psychologist Dr Duckett.
Mrs Jacklin, 61, said the chanting, staring and movement of her fingers were a part of her Sanskrit mantras.
Mr Jacklin also pleaded not guilty to an assault and both he and his wife claim it was they who had been assaulted.
The Crown Prosecution Service requested an adjournment which was refused by the court, meaning no evidence was offered by the prosecution – and the Jacklins were told they were free to go.
Mr Jacklin, a statistician and market researcher, said: “We are feeling relieved, elated and p***ed off.
“This should never have gone to the court. This is is the fourth time my wife has been investigated for praying on the beach.
“We’ve been investigated 12 times with no action taken against us in any case.
“That’s not a series of police mistakes – that is abuse of police power.”
Mrs Jacklin, supported by her family, sobbed in the dock as the case was dismissed.
Meanwhile, Mr Jacklin, a councillor, said the couple had spent “tens of thousands of pounds” in legal fees over the repeated police investigations and court battles.
The row began in 2013 when Dr Duckett and Norinne Betjemann, his partner, bought a 120-year-old, disused glass glazing workshop opposite their house.
The couple, from London, then set about converting it into a £400,000 weekend holiday home.
Mr and Mrs Jacklin made a series of complaints about their neighbours to the authorities, including noisy builders, verbal abuse and light pollution.
The Jacklins were then sent a community protection warning letter by Rother District Council.
They were also banned from entering an “exclusion zone” around the property owned by Dr Duckett and Ms Betjemann.
‘EXTREMELY STRESSFUL’
In July last year, the Jacklins reported their neighbours for harassment when they claimed Mrs Jacklin was filmed as she tried to pray.
In September that year, Mr Jacklin claims he was assaulted after a friend of Dr Duckett approached them on the beach outside their home.
As the couple made their way back to the house, Mr Jacklin claims the woman shouted to Mrs Jacklin: “The whole village wishes you were dead.”
He said he approached the woman and she “strangled” him before claiming he assaulted her, which he strongly denies.
He said: “The woman then claimed I bashed her against the fence, kicked her dog and repeatedly headbutted her. It was completely made up.
“When she throttled me, she came at me again and I put my hand out to stop her. That was the only contact we had.”
Mr Jacklin said CCTV footage of the three minutes in which the assault took place were never found, despite a request by his solicitors.
He called the ordeal a “spectacular misuse of police time”, adding: “I stood in the general election, and one of the reasons I decided to do so is because the police investigated us and not our neighbours. We should stand against abuse of power.
“My wife’s Hindu faith has helped her get through this. We’ve been there for 30 years and plan to live here forever.”
Beverley Cherrill, defending the couple, told the court: “This case has been extremely stressful for the Jacklins.
“They had really had enough of it. These allegations have caused a great deal of mental harm.”
Prosecuting solicitor Piers Restell formally offered no evidence in the case which related to alleged incidents from July 2023.