AssetID: 55577282
Headline: Caught on camera: Nightmare neighbour terrorised residents for months
Caption: A nightmare neighbour who waged an 18-month campaign of abuse against people living nearby was caught on camera terrorising his victims. Anthony Merrett subjected residents to repeated harassment at homes in Romney Marsh, Kent, calling them “paedophiles”, damaging property and threatening to devalue their houses. One couple were so impacted by the abuse they say they were left feeling like “prisoners in our own home”. Footage shows the scale of the harassment, including one clip of Merrett walking onto a man’s driveway and hurling insults, and another in which he repeatedly shouts “paedophile” from a window as the same neighbour collects a Tesco food delivery. The 62-year-old also threw bricks and rocks at a gardener working outside one property. Merrett was said to have been suffering mental health difficulties following the death of his mother. He was later charged with three counts of harassment without violence, common assault and possession of cannabis. He admitted the offences in November and was sentenced at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on March 16 after probation reports were prepared. Prosecutor Victoria Aked described the harassment as a “sustained campaign against his neighbours”, with two of the four victims targeted between November 2023 and May 2025. She described a series of incidents, including one in late 2024 when Merrett was clearing banks opposite one neighbour’s house. “When he was approached, he told one woman to f*** off b**** and said he was going to devalue her property,” she explained. “He also said she was an old lady and, with luck, she would die, and he removed items from her garden. These were edging logs, and he removed them and put them in a dyke. There were also some edging stones; he removed them and left them on her driveway.” The same woman also had rubbish strewn along the edge of her property and was repeatedly called a paedophile. Magistrates heard Merrett’s behaviour could be erratic, including occasions where he stood outside her home wearing only a towel. Ms Aked added: “She felt she couldn't leave the house as she was fearful of what he would do next, and she had to visit the doctor about her mental health.” The court was told he also targeted an elderly couple and assaulted a gardener they had hired. Ms Aked said: “He was cutting the grass outside near the dyke and the defendant started shouting ‘paedo’ and ‘nonce’ at him and said he was a grass and an undercover officer. “He ignored him for five minutes, and the homeowner called the police, and then he was gone. But he came back, and there was more verbal abuse when he again called him a paedo, nonce and grass. “He was rambling for five minutes and then he picked up some bricks and started throwing them.” In a statement, the gardener said: “He was throwing them at me with the intention to hurt me, and he was also throwing rocks at me.” Another neighbour, who had previously had a cordial relationship with Merrett, also became a target as his behaviour deteriorated. The court heard the situation worsened after Merrett was convicted in September 2024 of illegally digging up a badger’s sett in Broo, with further incidents including items being taken from a garden and thrown into a nearby lake. The elderly couple installed CCTV, which captured further abuse, including threats to kill them and repeated allegations they were paedophiles. Defending, Scott Neilson said Merrett was a single man who had “led an isolated existence”. “He's never really lived alone and this was done in the aftermath of his mother's death,” he said. “After his mum died, he felt guilty that he'd not looked after her properly, he felt that. “He fully accepts his guilt, and the pre-sentencing report says he was suffering from mental trauma at the time.” He added that Merrett began using cannabis after his mother’s death in May 2023, which worsened his mental state. “He was grieving, he was upset,” he said. “Something that was minor, he would take to the extreme. “He got fixated on small things, and he was taking it out on [his neighbours], lashing out. He was angry at himself, but he lashed out at everyone around him. “There is no ill will. He was basically in a state of turmoil, and he's now getting mental health support and has not come into contact with [the victims].” The court heard Merrett’s twin brother has since moved in with him and he has stopped using cannabis, although he remains in £50,000 of debt. Neighbours asked for a restraining order, but Mr Neilson argued any ban preventing him from going within 50 metres of their homes would also prevent him from accessing his own property. Magistrates acknowledged the distress caused to the victims. For the harassment offences, Merrett was given a 12-month community order, requiring him to complete 20 rehabilitation sessions and undertake a mental health treatment requirement. No separate penalty was imposed for the assault. Merrett was also banned from contacting any of the victims for two years and from entering their properties, driveways or gardens. One victim said after the sentencing: “He has made both my husband and I feel like prisoners in our own home. “We didn’t want our young family down because he never gave us a minute’s rest from his relentless shouting and swearing.”
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PersonInImage: Anthony Merrett filmed after entering a neighbour's driveway and verbally abusing him