NEIGHBOUR HELL
Couple’s lives ruined by woman in upstairs flat who throws 24-hour parties
Kate and Ross Andrews say they have suffered four years of torture because of their upstairs neighbour Claire Powell
A COUPLE claim their lives were ruined by a nightmare neighbour who regularly threw all-night raves.
Kate and Ross Andrews hoped for a peaceful life when they moved to a ground floor flat in a sleepy area of the Cotswolds with their daughter Morgan in 2013.
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Kate told Channel 5’s The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door: “We’d spent quite a while looking for different flats, and when we found this one it was perfect.”
Keen gardener Ross said the pair loved the amount of outdoor space the flat had, and that it was situated on a quiet road.
But, before they even moved in, the couple got a taste of the drama that lay in store.
Ross said: “The very first time we got here, we pulled up in the car, got out, and there was a guy stood here [outside the flat] and someone was throwing his belongings out the window.
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“There were clothes, bags, a lot of swearing going on as this person we’d never met before was shouting abuse at some guy.”
Kate added: “We hoped to god it was a weird thing, just a one-off domestic.”
The person throwing the clothes was Claire Powell, their new neighbour who lived in the upstairs flat with her teenage daughter.
Kate and Ross met Claire in the communal hallway and said she “seemed nice and normal”.
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They settled into their new home and began transforming the communal gardens.
But the peace was shattered when Claire had an 24-hour party.
Ross hoped it was just a one-off, but, from then on, a constant stream of people visited her flat.
Ross claims people would buzz their intercom at all hours of the day and night.
“There was a constant stress level,” he said.
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The couple decided to take action and install security cameras.
They hoped it would act as a deterrent, but it didn’t – the parties became more regular, busier and louder.
One night, Kate reached the end of her tether.
“I noticed this crowd of people just piling in. They’d had parties and stuff before, but this was astonishing,” she said.
“There was really loud music and just loads and loads of people. The doorbell was continuously ringing, doors slamming.
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“It got to about two or three in the morning when they were outside having a fight, screaming and shouting at each other, we ended up ringing the police.”
The following morning, the pair woke up to a scene of devastation – the downstairs windows were covered in ketchup, there was vomit on Ross’s car and used condoms in the garden.
Ross said: “You can’t explain how much this affected our lives. It’s every single minute, of every single day.”
But after four years of torture, fate intervened.
Claire was convicted of a driving offence in April 2017 and sentenced to three months in jail.
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But in May 2017, she was released and returned to her home.
The local council issued an order that meant she couldn’t harass her neighbours or cause a nuisance.
But Kate and Ross fear the peace won’t last and they’ll be forced to leave.
Kate said: “If we have to move it will be heart-wrenching.”
Claire told Channel 5: “A lot of it is far-fetched and over the top, they’re portraying me to be something completely I’m not.
“I’ve been here seven years, they’ve been here four. I’ve never had any complaints until they came along.”
In March, a Nightmare Neighbour victim was left shocked when a man threatened to kill him.
And, a heartbroken mum recalled how a neighbourly dispute spiralled out of control and led to the death of her disabled daughter.
The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door is on Channel 5 on Thursdays at 8pm
