Susan Chen, 61, and Linda Lu, 35, were caught on camera banging loudly, playing music, laughing hysterically and shouting at their rented semi-detached home in Lincolnshire
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Mother and daughter caught on camera ‘terrorising’ neighbours
A former Chinese intelligence officer and her lawyer daughter have been jailed for five-and-a-half years after stalking and harassing their village neighbour.
Susan Chen, 61, and Linda Lu, 35, were caught on camera banging, playing music, laughing hysterically and shouting at their rented semi-detached home in Bassingham village, Lincolnshire, as part of what a judge called “persistent and malicious” behaviour towards their neighbours James and Lynn Smith.
The couple were dealt “maximum distress”, Judge James House KC said, as the court learned how the duo left a mobile phone underneath an umbrella in the back garden as it played the 1920s song The Laughing Policeman on repeat, along with other loud music. Chen also shone a torch into Mr and Mrs Smith’s home in the dark for around an hour, smashed bottles against the adjoining fence, spied on them and their children while they sat in their own garden – and even followed them when they left the house.
In October, the pair were found guilty of one count each of stalking their neighbours after a five-week trial in which they represented themselves and were “extremely challenging”, the judge said. Their horrific campaign of harassment was triggered by an argument over the cutting of a hedge on July 18, 2023.
Chen and Lu threatened legal action against their neighbours and even stopped passing cars to tell the drivers to call the police after Mr Smith trimmed the hedge between their properties, as he usually did. Judge House said the allegations the pair had levied against their neighbour were “figments of the defendants’ own delusions”.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecution counsel Steve Taylor, Mrs Smith said the family are actively looking to move away from the dream home they had wanted to live in forever after the “onslaught” they faced.
Mr Smith added that their happiness at the home that they had enjoyed for 12 years was “shattered” as soon as Chen, her ex-partner and her daughter moved in in March 2023. He said: “Why would someone take pleasure in what Chen and Lu have done to us? This was much more than a simple neighbour dispute – it was calculated, manipulative and persistent.”
Lu, a qualified solicitor, had no previous convictions, while Chen had attacked an elderly couple in 2020, the court heard. The 61-year-old was out running and became “aggrieved” that the couple, who were waking a number of dogs, were blocking her path. She then verbally abused them before spitting at them and hitting them, along with another woman who tried to intervene with a walking pole.
In a mitigation statement, Chen claimed to the court: “We were the real victims of their stalking”, addin their neighbours “made our lives a living hell”. Lu claimed there was “no evidence” the pair caused any fear or distress to their neighbours, and that the recordings of them were “private conversations that happened inside a private home… clearly they were random conversations that weren’t about anyone in particular”.
Judge House said: “This was a complete persecution that destroyed their wellbeing and their ability to enjoy their own property. Both Mr and Mrs Smith have shown remarkable courage in standing up to the defendants.
“Their lives have been turned upside by the harassment of them. Mrs Smith has required counselling and medication. Mr Smith has also required medication. It remains to be seen if they will be able to put these events behind them in a house they have previously enjoyed and loved.”
In a statement released after the sentencing, lead investigating officer Pc Jordan Bathie-Drexler said the suspects “made it their mission” to torment the victims. He said: “This case might be mistaken as a neighbour dispute. But what on the face of it looked like ASB, was actually offending against the victims that took place 24 hours a day, seven days a week, over a three-month period until the offenders were remanded in custody.
He added: “In almost 10 years of policing, I have never seen such persistent, relentless and unprovoked offending by a suspect. Linda Lu utilised her position as a registered solicitor in order to carry out an all-out war on the victims of this case. This case has involved hundreds of hours work by police, as well as multiple witnesses who came forward assisted in the case and ensuring justice prevailed.”
As well as ordering that they serve half of their five-and-a-half-year sentence in prison before being eligible for release on licence, Jusge House imposed an indeterminate restraining order on Chen and Lu, which included banning them from entering the village of Bassingham altogether.
