I was evicted from my £15k beach hut ‘because I’m too glam’ – bully locals are jealous of my fast car & modelling career
A WOMAN has claimed she’s been evicted from her £15,000 beach hut because she’s “too glam” for locals jealous of her fast car and modelling career.
Michele Spicer, 60, accused neighbours of envying her Mercedes and post-retirement life as a model in a dispute over her Sussex beach hut.
But the retired teacher is now facing a £53,000 bill following a High Court case involving “anti-social behaviour” at her home in Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex.
She bought it for £15,000 in the wake of a divorce in 2020, dubbing the hut her “mermaid haven”.
But there were clashes with neighbours which led to the latest court hearing which has landed her with a suspended prison term.
Spicer was accused of carelessly parking her sports car near the hut and playing loud music on the Merc’s radio, triggering complaints to Worthing Borough Council.
She was convinced one neighbour was plotting to evict her and allegedly began a “revenge campaign” after council chiefs took the hut away from her, a court heard.
Her victim had to leave the town and change jobs, London‘s High Court was told.
Spicer allegedly “continued to harass and intimidate” her former neighbour despite an anti-harassment injunction.
Judge Richard Pearce found her in contempt of court for breaching the injunction and handed her a 24-week jail sentence, suspended for two years.
She was also hit in the pocket when the judge ordered her to pay her former neighbour’s legal costs – estimated by lawyers at £53,000.
The female victim cannot be named after being granted anonymity.
Her barrister Kate Strange said the neighbour – who had been branded a “vulture” in Instagram posts by Ms Spicer – had been driven from the seaside town she loved, “ruining” her life.
Ms Strange told the court: “The harassment complained of by the claimant included verbal abuse, pestering behaviour, intimidation and photographing, and recording of the claimant without her consent.”
The neighbour made 30 complaints to cops, resulting in two “community protection orders” being slapped on Ms Spicer.
But the police action “appeared to have no effect” on the defendant, the court heard, and in July last year the neighbour felt there was “no choice but to seek an injunction to curb Ms Spicer’s harassment of her”.
The court order barred Ms Spicer from the waterfront area near her former hut, from contacting or communicating with her victim or visiting the gym she went to, and from generally “harassing or stalking her”.
But despite the injunction, she “continued to harass and intimidate the claimant”, said Ms Strange.
My client has had her life ruined by the actions of Ms Spicer
Barrister Kate Strange
The case came before Judge Pearce as Ms Strange applied for Spicer to be jailed for defiance of a court order.
The barrister said there had been little remorse shown for the victim, adding: “My client has had her life ruined by the actions of Ms Spicer.”
Ms Strange added: “She appears to be motivated by a wish to punish the claimant and to put pressure on her, and to make her life difficult – even unbearable – because she did the unthinkable and complained about her anti-social behaviour.
“Her conduct has been repetitive, persistent and marked by a desire to cause maximum distress to the claimant.
“She forced her to change jobs and move home and her mental health has deteriorated significantly.
“She has chosen to uproot her life and home and job in order to get away from Ms Spicer.”
Spicer admitted a series of breaches of the injunction by posting “abusive content” on her Instagram account.
Her barrister told the judge she was now “extremely remorseful”, while also saying there had been no physical contact between the two.
Mr Pearce said that despite being singled out by Spicer as a key figure in lodging complaints to the council, the victim had acted “entirely appropriately in seeking to challenge such anti-social behaviour”.
He added that losing her “pride and joy” beach hut had a devastating impact on Spicer, he added, prompting the revenge campaign – and that being evicted from her “mermaid haven” sparked “significant aggravation and escalation in Ms Spicer’s behaviour”.
He added: “It caused her for whatever reason to pick on the claimant particularly as a target for her conduct.”
He said he was “on a very narrow balance persuaded to suspend this sentence”, taking account of Spicer’s fragile mental health.
He gave her a 24-week sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered her to pay her neighbour’s legal costs estimated at £53,000.
Ms Spicer’s hut was taken away by Worthing Council in 2021.
In earlier interviews, she claimed to have sparked neighbours’ resentment due to her “glamorous” looks and her Mercedes.
She previously said: “I didn’t do anything wrong – but because I model and I have a nice car, they have a certain impression of me.”