Neighbours living alongside a woman they describe as a “volcanic neighbour from hell” say they are outraged that she avoided immediate imprisonment after attacking a woman and four police officers.
Anne Egglestone’s alleged decade-long campaign of abuse has resulted in several prison sentences. She now has 19 previous convictions covering 74 offences.
Her record includes violent confrontations with residents and officers, directing CCTV cameras towards neighbouring homes and making a stream of abusive calls to police.
Residents say they feel trapped inside their own properties and are desperate to move away. However, they fear their homes would be difficult to sell because some avoid putting out washing or even leaving their bins outside.
One neighbour, who withheld their name because of fears of reprisals, said: “We want to see her locked up. We’re living in fear.
“What the police and the courts have done has not worked, and we are the ones suffering. If we reported every incident, we would be calling the police twice a week.”
Egglestone’s latest confrontation ended in dramatic footage showing her being arrested after an officer aimed a Taser at her and repeatedly ordered: “Step out of the house, now.”
A Taser-wielding police officer pulls Anne Egglestone, 63, from her house after she assaulted a neighbour
As the 63-year-old approached the entrance of her bungalow, the officer took hold of her wrist and pulled her outside before bringing her to the ground. Two other officers then moved in to help restrain her.
Egglestone can be heard loudly exclaiming “Oh” as the officer first grabs her, followed by what appears to be a scream.
Four officers were assaulted during the August 16 incident on a leafy suburban street in Thorpe St Andrew, near Norwich. Reports included claims that they were bitten and kicked.
Police intervened after a woman was allegedly assaulted and her mobile phone damaged during a “quiet” garden gathering held for an elderly resident.
The woman, who also asked not to be identified, told Our News Outlet: “She was making noises like a banshee. The police were called, and then she went back into her property.”
Egglestone was not held in custody and returned home within hours, leaving neighbours with little relief. Many have installed CCTV around their properties in case they are targeted.
She appeared at Norwich Crown Court last week after admitting four charges of assaulting a constable, two breaches of a Community Protection Notice, obstructing a constable, common assault and criminal damage.
Egglestone has been jailed several times for anti-social behaviour
The judge handed her an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, along with a three-year Criminal Behaviour Order. The order prohibits her from engaging in conduct that causes nuisance, disturbance or annoyance.
She was also ordered to pay compensation and additional costs totalling almost £700.
Residents fear the “dangerous” behaviour will continue. One described her as “a neighbour from hell” and added: “She’s a volcano.”
Another neighbour said: “She’s the reason we installed cameras. The verbal and physical abuse is a huge problem, and we’re afraid to do anything in our own gardens.”
Egglestone’s known offending began around a decade ago. In March 2017, she was fined and sentenced to 26 weeks in prison at Norwich Magistrates’ Court for four public order offences involving abusive behaviour towards a neighbour and a builder.
She had also made unnecessary, rude and obstructive calls to the police control room, breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order imposed in April 2016 following similar conduct.
At the time, beat manager PC Sean Phillips said: “This result shows that the courts and police treat this type of anti-social behaviour with the utmost seriousness.”
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Footage obtained by Our News Outlet shows the police officer pointing the Taser at Egglestone as he shouts: ‘Step out of the property, now.’
He then seizes her by the wrist as she moved towards the front door of her bungalow
Other officers rush forward to help restrain Egglestone as she is bundled to the ground
Egglestone appears to have received another 26-week custodial sentence in October that year, together with a two-year restraining order. She had admitted criminal damage, public order offences and breaching her Criminal Behaviour Order.
Magistrates heard that she had struck a neighbour’s wooden fence with a hammer, behaved aggressively towards the neighbour and attending officers, and made further unnecessary and offensive calls to police.
She was next known to have faced legal action in April 2019, when she was charged with harassment after moving palm trees and allegedly disturbing neighbours with loud and abusive behaviour.
She was also accused of making an offensive call to domestic abuse charity Leeway and breaching her Criminal Behaviour Order by contacting police again.
In November 2019, she was sentenced to two years in prison at Norwich Crown Court after sending an offensive message to the same charity, repeatedly breaching the order by contacting police and sending abusive messages. She also breached a suspended sentence order.
Prosecutor Eleanor Sheerin told the court that neighbours had been left anxious and feeling “like prisoners in their own home” after Egglestone positioned a security camera towards their property.
Judge Stephen Holt told Egglestone: “You have a long record of being extremely unpleasant to other people and a number of breaches of court orders. You are not a very nice piece of work.”
Egglestone arriving at court for a previous hearing
A 63-year-old neighbour said after the hearing: “She has created an enormous amount of tension and anxiety.
“She was constantly verbally abusive. I became uncomfortable going into the garden because she would look over the fence and stand watching me.”
Egglestone encountered the law again in 2023 after admitting making 10 abusive calls to police over what were described as “irrational” fears that neighbours were trying to poison her dog by throwing grapes into her garden.
She received an eight-month prison sentence, suspended, in March the following year.
Egglestone moved to the street around 2015. Neighbours said tensions appeared to rise after a family across the road began building work, which she reportedly objected to because of the lorries and noise, although residents said the disruption was not excessive.
During a 2023 court hearing, her lawyer said she “lives alone, having divorced 10 years ago, and has two children – one in New Zealand and another she has no contact with”.
Sergeant Sam Barwick, of Norfolk Constabulary’s Operational Partnership Team, said after the latest hearing: “We hope this CBO will act as a deterrent to Egglestone’s persistent anti-social behaviour.
“This type of behaviour has a detrimental effect on those living around her and significantly impacts emergency service workers carrying out their duties.”
However, one neighbour said: “We want her out of Spinney Close and out of our lives. She needs to be locked up.”
Another added: “She has been screaming at elderly people, making children cry and shouting the most foul-mouthed abuse at people. It will continue until she is stopped.”
Egglestone became hostile when approached for comment.
