Worksop man with learning difficulties jailed for shouting threats at neighbour

A man with learning difficulties who was provoked into shouting abuse and threats by his neighbour in a supported housing complex in Worksop has been jailed.
Mansfield Magistrates Court.Mansfield Magistrates Court.
Mansfield Magistrates Court.

Richard Taylor shouted from his window: “Stop calling me mental” at 6.30pm, on May 22, at the Queen Street complex, said prosecutor Judith Kirkham.

He ran downstairs and tried to get to his neighbour, but a care worker intervened.

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“His neighbour was very alarmed and said that Mr Taylor tried to throw a punch, but nothing connected,” said Miss Kirkham.

Taylor, 48, admitted using threatening and abusive words and behaviour, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Monday.

He was last in court for damaging his neighbour’s door, in April 2017, and was in breach of a suspended sentence, imposed in September 2016, and a two year conditional discharge, from September 2015.

David Verity, mitigating, said it would be an “absolutely disaster” for Taylor, who has mental health issues and learning difficulties, if he was sent to prison.

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He described Taylor as a “model tenant” who normally “keeps himself to himself”, but had been subject to “a lot of provocation” from his neighbour.

“He has started to provoke Mr Taylor by making nasty comments,” Mr Verity said.

“Staff have realised that these two men have to be seperated, so efforts have been made to remove one or the other of them from the address.”

Probation officer Greta Pervical said his IQ was 55 and he struggled to comprehend things.

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Chair Michael Lyall said: “Mr Taylor, you seem to have been very busy over a period of time. As a result we are going to activate four weeks of the suspended sentence.”

Taylor was jailed for a total of four weeks, for the “wilful and persistent failure to comply with any of the orders.”

The conditional discharge was discontinued and he was ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge.

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