Withywood anti-social neighbour is jailed after break in Spain
A NIGHTMARE neighbour who stayed in Spain instead of turning up for his trial has been arrested and is now in prison.
As previously reported, Barry Collins was convicted of contempt of court after repeatedly breaching injunctions by harassing people on his street – Bishport Avenue, Withywood.
The 68-year-old was sentenced at Bristol magistrates' court to two weeks' custody and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
The Post understands that last night he was arrested at Bristol International Airport returning from the continent, where he had been for more than a month. He is now serving his sentence at HMP Horfield.
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Collins' primary victim, neighbour Timothy Wrigley, 50, told The Post: "I feel like I've finally got a little bit of justice now – at last.
"The police rang me and said he was arrested at the airport as he got back from Spain."
Collins' harassment of his neighbours came in a number of ways.
He burnt piles of meat in his garden, threw out-of-date food into neighbours' gardens, repeatedly phoned Mr Wrigley, stared at him through his window, threatened him and others and threatened to poison neighbours' pets.
Mr Wrigley, who has now been moved away from Withywood by the city council after his two-year ordeal, added: "He made living there impossible.
"I basically became a recluse – it's been very stressful."
Collins signed an acceptable behaviour contract in March, but he breached it within two days.
In the autumn, he was given notice of an injunction banning him from causing harassment, alarm or distress to anyone in Bishport Avenue and also the former estate manager for the council, Aggi Wise.
But within nine minutes he was on the phone to Mr Wrigley swearing and threatening: "I owe you one."
The next day he threw a tin of corned beef at Mr Wrigley's front door – an act which was caught on CCTV.
After the breaches racked up, Collins was summoned to the magistrates' court.
But a few days before he was due to contest a contempt of court charge he called Mr Wrigley from a Spanish phone number then failed to turn up for his trial.
On November 22, a district judge found him guilty of six breaches of the injunction and imposed a two-week jail sentence. He was also ordered to pay the council's costs of £1,025.
Collins is now likely to be evicted from his council flat as the local authority confirmed it will "take action against his tenancy".
Police spokeswoman Claire Stanley said: "I can confirm that Mr Collins was arrested by officers on Thursday and is now in Horfield prison."
The council's anti-social behavioural manager Stuart Pattison said previously: "Mr Collins behaviour was totally unacceptable and after making every effort to get him to change his behaviour we took action to protect the neighbours from further harassment."
Comments
by busmyc
Monday, December 31 2012, 6:56PM
“Now all the council have to do now is sort the other antisocial people out in Bristol and get them moved.
I hope Tim Wrigley can now get on with his life in piece.”
by BerttheBlue
Monday, December 31 2012, 1:51PM
“A pleasing end to this whole sorry affiar for Mr Wrigley, I bet he is feeling mint today knowing his neighbour is locked away occupied by just a bed, tv, playstation and a beer or two.”
by Jimbogas777
Monday, December 31 2012, 12:22PM
“He will be out now because of the holidays he will free today.....maybe a tin of spam next time... If you see this guy at the meat counter you know he has not reformed ....you could on the other hand buy a dog...they love corn beef”
by Jenna_Talwart
Sunday, December 30 2012, 4:25PM
“@Bristoldave...don't be so mean. His nan obviously spent hours knitting that.”
by Bristoldave
Sunday, December 30 2012, 6:32AM
“Given the state of that Xmas jumper the guy is kind of asking to have corned beef hurled at him.”
by Sheppy_Ribeye
Friday, December 28 2012, 8:33PM
“Excellent. People who threaten others pets are the lowest form of scum in my book. What a big brave man he must be. I hope his 'big I am' attitude serves him incredibly badly up Horfield.”
by Dougalbear12
Friday, December 28 2012, 7:35PM
“People like him dont deserve to be given council homes, anyone making other peoples lives a misery should be told to move on at their own expense and find their own accomodation and pay for it themselves like normal behaving people have to do. They think they can act and do what they like without any consequences and thats exactly why they do it. Bullies and bullying familys should be evicted and not re homed, they might think twice about their behaviours then.”
by Brizz_Tony
Friday, December 28 2012, 6:55PM
“Presumably he got away with it (although he didn't ultimately) because the people he was picking on refused to sink to his deplorable levels of behaviour, and went through the correct channels. He is now in jail, although not for long, is likely to lose his home, and has had his card marked for the future.
I wonder if he will try to ring Mr Wrigley from prison?”
by tomcribb
Friday, December 28 2012, 2:42PM
“Presumably this old geezer has a large family of low lifes to back him up, otherwise how was he allowed to get away with it ?”