[Quarter life]

I’m posting this thread in the hope that I can get some feedback on the laws of ‘Stalking’. What constitutes stalking, and the possible legal avenues I can take to stop this insidious intrusion.

I posted earlier in November last year, but this problem has escalated over the holiday break and I’m now at my wits end.

I feel like I’m living in prison. I am very well educated, and have very specialised technical and artistic skills….but have avoided living for the last 20+ years. I have never married, never had children, and have not had contact with my parents or sisters in over 15 years. Due to severe ‘Torture trauma’ (details withheld at this time) that I endured in my early 20’s, I now continue to suffer greatly from PTSD that has now become a major depressive illness.

This said, I had managed to steel myself against my dreadful circumstance and anxiety, and endeavoured over the years to find some kind of life by implementing coping strategies, and being forever mindful of whom I trust and let into my life. But I now find it almost impossible to leave my house, as I have an aggressive stalker living next door. This creature is a Fireman (Superintendent) 57 years old. He began by flirting with me 11 years ago, but as I rejected his advances over and over becoming more and more repressed, he turned extremely nasty. He derides me if I try to leave my house, has sent sexually explicit and threatening letters over my side wall, defecated on my doorstep…plus much more that I can’t write here. All in all, I’ve been harassed, intimidated and frightened for the last 11 years by him.

The Police have been called at least 50 times, and claim that they investigated him, but could find no strong evidence to warrant an arrest. I have since discovered that the investigating officer is a ‘drinking buddy’ of my creepy neighbour. I would dearly love to move as far away as possible from this creature. In 2005 I put my 'terrace house' on the market, estate agent was very positive as I had bought in an up and coming area. I had 3 interested parties in the first 2 months. But here's the problem.......If I ever have any visitors of any kind during the day the 'Creature' switches on a generator or some kind of machine and leans it against the 'shared' wall dividing our terraces. This causes a dreadful noise and even shakes the upstairs portion of my terrace. He has lots of nasty tricks to stop me from selling, like when I had my elderly friend visit he turned on 'pornography' I guess on his TV very very loud, then left for the day. It's sometimes loud rock music on a loop; it plays for hours and hours. One night he put a portable stereo in his ceiling, I had to listen to 'Johnny Cash' for over 70 hours. I called Police who checked my ceiling, their response was 'Why don’t you get better sound proofing' as there was nothing they could do because they claim the music is not excessively loud from the street. One of the officers said 'I like Johnny Cash' then laughed.

The 'Creature' is so invested in terrorising me that he monitors everything I do, even down to using the bathroom. Because these are '100 year old' terraces, the plumbing joins at certain junctures enabling him to hear me flush my toilet. He responds by calling out over the back wall 'was that No: 2's? then cackles at me in a deranged manner. These are only a few examples of his stalking behaviour.......There is so much more, and much much worse.

I have taken videos and recordings of the stuff he does and says, one that shows him hanging over the back wall saying 'I will never let you leave darling, I know you love me'. I have recorded these events in journals and kept the names of attending officers and event No:s. Real estate agents have made it clear that unless the invasive noise and music is addressed, no one will ever buy my property. Police think this is a big joke, one actually asked me if I had been in any kind of relationship with the 'Creature', when I denied anything of the sort he said 'Sorry I don’t believe you, there is obviously some kind of history here' Oh..My..God.

The Police claim they misplaced the first 3 original copies of these nasty letters that I handed over to them. They asked me for the originals of all 60+ letters, and the 20 others that I question being attributed to my neighbour. I refused to give the originals, and the officers became annoyed that I was only willing to give them copies saying ‘How do you expect us to do our job if your not willing to give us the evidence? ‘We can’t be expected to do much with just copies, we need the originals’. As this is the most damning evidence I have against him, I will not let them out of my possession.
The Police say that there is no way that I can prove anything and that I'm the one breaking the law by making 'vexatious' complaints, putting the reputation of a respected emergency worker into question. I’ve been warned to be very careful, as recording him is also a breach of his privacy. They say he has every right to sue me. I feel like I'm Alice living in an even darker version of Wonderland.

I’m sorry this post is so very long, but what am I going to do? I truly believe that the Police are protecting this monster. I have even thought of just leaving, letting the bank take my house. I write this in the hope that someone will be able to give me some legal advice on where I go from here. Or maybe some tips on how to stand up to him (no violence). Because of this continued harassment and reaction from the authorities, I’ve lost all my self-esteem and confidence; I can’t see my way ahead and am barely holding it together. What do you do when even the Police can’t be trusted?

[Silent Void]

M o v e .....

[Open Eyes]

Ok, this guy is obviously getting off on "control", yes, he is a sicko.

Do you have an extra bedroom that you could lease out to a man? You could do some research into self protection education and see if you can come up with some kind of a male protector. Even if you do not charge rent, if you could find someone you could trust having a male presence there could give you a way to also work with a realtor and list the property again but not put up a sign.

All the other things you tried have you "alone" and trying to find a way to break free, you have to change the "alone" part and now take steps to get a physical presence there with you who can also be a witness if this creepy neighbor keeps up his creepy intimidation.

I don't know if you are living in a house with a basement you could fix up so someone could stay with you? But I would be looking into finding either a male renter and I would find someplace small, I would rent "under market rent" if I could, find a place "away" for myself that I could rent to be away. While I had my place rented I would have it on the market too. I would even talk to some realtors, sometimes a realtor may know someone that could stay there while the house is listed without a sign.

If it was me, I would find a way to "not be alone and remain a target". I don't know where you live but I would be doing some serious research, I would even look up private investigators.

You should also call an abuse hotline and see if there are any support groups in your area. You are not alone with this kind of scenario and a support group may have some good advice too.

OE

[Quarter life]

You should also call an abuse hotline and see if there are any support groups in your area. You are not alone with this kind of scenario and a support group may have some good advice too.

OE[/QUOTE]

Thanks Open Eyes.
I got in contact with the Domestic Violence hotline several years ago. Their advice was simply to move aswell. I have listed my property without advertising twice now...no signage, no commercial listing, but he knows everything I do. This creep even knows the names of my family....how?... I don't know. He has details of my phone conversations, and places that I have lived and travelled aswell. I guarantee he even reads these posts that I'm posting here.The DV hotline's only advice was to call the Police or move. As there is no other authourity to regulate abominations like this guy...I'm scr**ed. I can't afford a lawyer, but have been searching internet sites for legal advice, unfortunately haven't come up with much yet. I'm a little averse to renting a room to someone I don't know....I know it's an option, but defeats my purpose of trying to get my privacy back. I have tried just ignoring him...just imagining that he doesnt exist, but this just makes him more aggressive. More than anything, I'm hoping that someone out there can direct me to some authourity that can compel the Police to DO THEIR JOB instead of giving this creep liscence to do whatever he pleases without consequence.

[Open Eyes]

Oh, I am sorry, I even went online to see what I could find, well, I found other people in similar situations as you having the same problems with the police too.

I have had a bad experience with my neighbor too and I am suing them. So I know how creepy people can be. I feel the same way about the police, my neighbor even tore down a no trespassing sign I put up, the police came out, he admitted he tore it down but didn't know who put it up, I wanted to press charges but they would only give him a warning.

Oh I go on and on about my challenges. I know how the police are lazy about helping too. My neighbors dog caused a lot of damage to my horses and ponies that was my business. He told me to shoot the dog, can you imagine? I know about creepy, intrusive people. I lost so much, and that is how I ended up with PTSD.

I pray all the time for these people to move, believe me. I can't afford to move, I still have crippled animals, and the damages his dog caused put me in a lot of debt, I need to have my farm to take care of my animals, I can't just kill them because they are inconvenient now, and no one will take an animal that has special needs.

It sounds like your neighbor is really right next to you too, yuck. At this point I would even consider either selling my place for under market value just to get out if I were you.

OE

Contact a higher law enforcement agency ... State Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Local District Attorney ... Department of Justice ... Homeland Security ... The local Po-Po ain't the only game in town ...

Or, like another poster said M-O-V-E ... Even if it means just walking off and leaving it all behind.

I did this 20 years ago and it wasn't easy, but I now have peace and quite and am healing relatively well considering all the violence I grew up and lived in for over 30 years.

It's not easy, but it is doable ...

Sure, it's scary not knowing where or how well we'll land, but if we're on the verge of completely crashing and burning anyway, then it's an option well worth considering!

[unlockingsanity]

Do you have any friends or family who you could temporarily move in with? If you move everything out of the apartment and THEN try to sell it, I bet he would give up his tactics if he doesn't have YOU to bother. I mean, if it's all about bothering YOU and YOU aren't there....I think he'll give it up.

Especially if you can get your realtor to "drop" the information that you've already moved (maybe to another country??) and will not be returning.