A grandmother who is almost deaf was given an ASBO (anti-social behaviour order) for playing Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra hits on her radio too loudly.
Neighbours complained they endured 13 months of hell as widow Georgina Sims, from Gosport, Hants in England, banged her walking stick on the wall and played music day and night.
Chris and Tony Adams, who lived next door, were asked to keep a record of the noise after complaining in August 2010.
Mr Adams, 54, said: “It was absolute hell. It made us ill. The law desperately needs to be changed because it does not protect the victims.”
Mrs Sims admitted to counts of flouting a noise abatement order and was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £500 costs at Fareham Magistrates Court.
However Mrs Sims’ daughter Bev Batten, 58, said Gosport Borough Council were wrong to prosecute.
She said her mother banged on the wall as hearing condition tinnitus caused her to hear sounds that were not there, and meant she had to turn her radio up to drown them out.
She said: “Mum didn’t need an ASBO. She didn’t make it easy but taking her to court was not the best thing to do.
“She was genuinely hearing noises – she didn’t have a vendetta against the neighbours.”
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