Woman branded ‘fatso’ by neighbour in fairy lights row, courtroom hears

A female fire manager was branded a ‘f***ing fatso’ during a bitter feud with her next-door neighbour, a court has heard.

Janine Carden, who was a witness in the Manchester Arena Inquiry, and her late partner John Pratt were allegedly subjected to foul-mouthed abuse from oil and gas engineer Paul Griffith.

‘Short-fused’ Griffith, 50, is accused of reporting the couple to the council over their garden fairy lights.

A court heard that he said ‘here she comes, the f***ing fatso’ when Ms Carden, 49, returned home from visiting her dying mother. 

In another alleged flashpoint, Griffith posted a picture on Twitter/X of Mr Pratt’s trailer, captioned: ‘The mess my neighbour kindly left outside my house for the past month.’

And when Ms Carden and Mr Pratt were enjoying a barbecue, Griffith allegedly leaned out of his window and shouted ‘ooh, let’s all have sausages’, before slamming it shut.

The pair went to police and Griffith was charged with harassment, but Mr Pratt died from undisclosed reasons aged 54.

At Chester Magistrates’ Court, Ms Carden, from Frodsham, Cheshire said she was left feeling ‘sick’ by the alleged abuse and claimed she ‘felt like a prisoner in my own home’.

She said: ‘I already felt rubbish about myself and I was lacking in confidence. 

‘I was frightened to go out on my own without John because of Mr Griffith’s behaviour. It just made me feel worse about myself and I was upset and very distressed.

‘At one point I wanted to move as I felt like this was going to go on forever. There would be the daily thing that I would have to tell John my location and when I’m on my way home so that he could watch so that I did not have to see Mr Griffith. 

‘John was looking forward to retirement. He had known for 30 years his retirement date. He was looking forward to the next chapter.’

The feud began after Miss Carden who now runs a bath product business and Mr Pratt moved into next door to Griffith in 2017. 

She told the hearing: ‘Mr Griffith had an issue with a neighbour on the other side and my partner asked him: ‘She is a nice lady, why be nasty to her?’ But it seems to have started from that point.

‘He reported us to the council over the fairy lights in the garden and also our security light which lights up the car park area and which the other neighbours felt was helpful. 

‘On one occasion, my partner was putting tools in the boot of his car when I heard a commotion and Mr Griffith was being very loud, shouting and swearing a lot.

‘Mr Griffith said to my partner: ‘what are you staring at?’ but because of his aggression and tone of voice, John was keeping his eyes on him as he thought it was best not to turn his back on him. 

‘Eventually another neighbour intervened and thank god he came when he did.

‘The incident made me feel sick. You are meant to feel safe in your home but I was physically shaking and I could not stop shaking.

‘At a barbecue we had, Mr Griffith opened his window and said in a funny voice, ‘Ooh, it’s sunny, let’s all cook sausages’ and slammed the window shut. 

‘He also said the f word or the c word on that occasion – more likely ‘f***ing idiots’ rather than the horrible c-word.

‘It may not sound much but it is when it is daily and all you want to do is sit in your own garden – we just felt like we could not. We are not aware that we did anything to provoke him. 

‘We were just trying to mind our own business. We did not speak to him, we tried to avoid him. But going outside when he was there just seemed to cause him issues each time.

‘I was frightened to have conflict, and was actually glad to be inside my property and not in the garden where he could get to me.

‘At one time my mum was in hospital and I was visiting every day. I was driving home and he was at his window pulling faces on me and shouted, ‘Here she is, the f***ing fatso’. 

‘My mum was seriously ill with COPD and heart failure and she died only a few weeks ago.’

In a statement written before he died, Mr Pratt said: ‘Mr Griffith was initially polite to us both but after a short period he began to show angry behaviour, and animosity and trying to influence and dictate what we do to our property.

‘During those early days that was mostly directed to Janine but on one occasions I was putting my toolbox in the boot of the vehicle when Mr Griffith returned home in his own vehicle, got out and in an aggressive tone said: ‘What are you staring at?’

‘I replied ‘You’ – but the reason for looking at him was because of previous experiences when in his presence. We are wary of him because he is unpredictable in his behaviour. I do not trust him around me.

‘Mr Griffith called me a f***ing p***k five times during this one incident and pushed me on the chest with both hands. 

‘On another occasion I was putting rubbish in the wheelie bin when Mr Griffith blocked my path with car stared at me and drove off shouting the word ‘c**k.’

‘We also became aware of photos of my property on social media posted by Mr Griffith on the Cheshire West and Chester Council Twitter page and a Tory councillor had retweeted it. It was a my trailer and and I using it to store rubbish.

‘My partner returned home from visiting her elderly mother in hospital who has heart and lung problems. She turned into our road and parked the vehicle. But he was stood in the window and could be heard shouting, ‘Here she is, the f***ing fatso.’

‘Later when Mr Griffith opened the rear offside door of his car I heard it hit Janine’s vehicle I said, ‘Do you mind not hitting my car with your car door’ but he said, ‘Do you mind shifting that f***ing bin. I tell you what we will do. I will move it shall I.’

‘After he moved my bin which had hit my other bins, he said ‘Shift that f***ing post off my border’ followed by ‘f***ing kn**head’. 

‘I said ‘You will find that the bin is on my property.’ He said ‘What are you going to do about it? Why do you not ring the police you f***ing kn**head?’

‘He gave me the middle finger. I said: ‘Control yourself’ but he responded: ‘F*** you, you f***ing kn**head’ and then went into his house.

‘On another day we arrived home from an artisan market to find our passion flower plant was on the floor. 

‘We looked back on the CCTV footage to see Mr Griffith had reached over into our garden and pulled it until it snapped and threw the bits in our garden.’

Mr Pratt added: ‘Prior to moving into our property me and my partner would regularly walk to the war memorial and stop to take in the view in front of what would become our home. 

‘Moving in we felt we had found our perfect home for us and our children. But it soon became evident that all was not well. We felt that we had to be compliant with a list of unofficial rules.

‘I never thought I would be subject to such issues with a neighbour in Frodsham. It has caused great distress. I cannot enjoy being around my home. I do not feel safe in his presence due to his behaviour displayed towards me and Janine.’

Griffith, who has since moved house, denied harassment and refuted claims he called Ms Carden ‘fatso’. However, he admitted hurling insults at Mr Pratt saying he was provoked due to being recorded.

He told the court: ‘He had six cameras pointed at my property. They used to point into my bedroom and I did not like it. I would open my curtains on a Sunday morning and he would be stood there staring up at me.’

He said he was putting his washing out when the couple were having a barbeque, and added: ‘I was saying, ‘For God’s sake, cooking sausages outside. Let’s all cook sausages outside when it was bellowing smoke’. It was not very neighbourly.

‘They were trying to grow ivy onto my property and was told that if I cut some I had to give it back. I did not want it to damage my property so what I did was to knock the ivy off my property.

‘I have now sold my house to get away from it. I just did not want any trouble. I have never hit anybody in my life. 

‘And I won’t for the rest of my life. I pushed him in self defence. My intention was to show no fear and to show that I would not be intimidated in my own home.’

The trial will reconvene at Chester Magistrates’ Court tomorrow. The verdict is due then.