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Neighbourly row fuelled hate campaign

10/08/2001

A strikingly similar poison pen writer to James Forster was brought to justice at Teesside Magistrates' Court last November.

Andrew Bewley, a 39-year-old senior Teesside University administrator, brought misery to Wharfedale Close, Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, in the hope that blame would fall on a teenage neighbour.

In the end, he was caught vandalising property on film.

He was jailed for two months, but won an appeal against sentence less than a month later after an impassioned plea by his wife, Mary.

Instead, he was put on probation after agreeing to undergo psychiatric treatment.

Bewley, who lived in a Ł100,000 four-bedroomed house with his probation service worker wife, and young child, sent menacing letters to every resident on the close.

His aim was to put the blame on the teenage son of his next-door neighbour, widower Annette Dales, who was driven to the brink of suicide, because he blamed him for damage to his car in 1998.

He sent threatening letters to Mrs Dales and damaged her property as well as letters to other residents, which went into detail about their lives. They were offensive and made threats of violence and damage to property.

Police hunted down Bewley after Mrs Dales had covert CCTV fitted to her home. A video handed to the police showed Mr Bewley spray-painting her home while she was away on holiday.

Bewley later told police the Dales had been making his life a misery and he wanted everyone to know how he felt.

Bewley admitted criminal damage, harassment and making a threat to destroy property as well as asking for five similar offences to be considered.

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