Kirkby resident receives 37-week prison sentence

An Ashfield resident has been convicted for breaching her injunction order after causing significant issues from her address on the Coxmoor Estate in Kirkby-In-Ashfield.

Katy Ross, of Poplar Avenue, Kirkby breached her Anti-Social Behaviour Injunction Order 33 times after causing misery to her neighbours on the estate.

Ashfield District Council’s Community Safety Team intervened by issuing multiple warning and offering support, but this was ignored by Ross. This subsequently resulted in the Council pursuing court action in attempts to stop the behaviour in November 2021 and was successful in obtaining an injunction.

Despite Ross receiving the order under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, reports of drug activity, violent behaviour, abuse and noise nuisance persisted which continued to have a detrimental impact on the local community.

Following breaches of the order, Ross was summoned to Court on Tuesday 4^th October 2022, after she was arrested and taken before Mansfield County Court where she was convicted of all 33 breaches of the Order resulting in a 37 weeks custodial prison sentence.

The Injunction order remains in place until 16^th November 2023 which will continue to be monitored by the Council and Police teams. The order prohibits Ross from:

• Allowing visitors to enter or remain at her address between the hours of 18.00hrs and 09.00hrs (excluding emergency workers, social workers and health care workers).
• Committing violence or make threats of violence (either directly or indirectly) to any person within the District of Ashfield.
• Engaging in or threatening to engage in abusive behaviour towards Ashfield District Council employees.
• Engaging in or encouraging conduct which causes or is capable of causing nuisance or annoyance including the playing of loud music or deliberate banging.
• Contacting witnesses named in the evidence.

Any breaches of the Injunction are to be reported to Nottinghamshire Police on 101 and 999 in an emergency of if there is a crime in progress.

Antonio Taylor, Community Safety Manager at Ashfield District Council, said:

‘’I would like to thank all the witnesses and officers involved in this case to help secure the conviction.  The sentencing decision will provide respite to local residents and hopefully they will no longer have to suffer as a result of the issues displayed by Ross and her visitors.

The Community Safety Department are working in partnership with Nottinghamshire Police to tackle anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime across Kirkby-In-Ashfield. As part of the Safer Streets project, additional officers have been assigned to lead on a number of operations to detect, disrupt and deter anti-social behaviour and criminality across the area.’’

Inspector Jon Hewitt, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:

“As we have made clear by several recent actions, we simply won’t tolerate the kind of persistent antisocial behaviour that causes so much upset in our community.

“These kind of court orders are extremely serious and must be respected by the people they are applied to. If they aren’t then people can and will go to prison.

“We will continue working with our partners at the council and elsewhere as we work with our local residents to further clamp down on antisocial behaviour. So if you are living near to a problem address please be sure to tell us about it.”