Mother and daughter guilty of stalking neighbours

A former Chinese intelligence officer and her lawyer daughter have been found guilty of stalking their neighbour in a Lincolnshire village.

Susan Chen, 61, and Linda Lu, 35, of Linga Lane in Bassingham caused serious alarm and distress to James Smith and his wife, Lynn Smith, over more than two months following a row about a hedge.

During the five-week trial at Lincoln Crown Court, Chen and Lu, who represented themselves, claimed they were the ones being "stalked and harassed".

The two women were remanded in custody and will be sentenced on 6 December.

A jury took just under two hours to convict the pair of stalking Mr and Mrs Smith.

As the guilty verdicts were returned, the two defendants showed no reaction.

Mr Smith, a teacher who has lived in the village with his wife and two children for 12 years, reported a number of incidents to the police, with audio and interactions picked up on recording devices and CCTV.

The court heard Chen moved into the rented semi-detached property with her British partner in March 2023 and was joined by Lu.

Three months after moving in, the pair were accused of harassing Mr and Mrs Smith, through derogatory abuse and "periods of loud metallic banging".

The court heard the first interaction between the Smiths and the defendants involved a dispute over a front hedge on 18 July 2023.

Mr Smith had gone out to trim the hedge, which was in-between his property and that of his neighbours.

The court was told he was met by Chen, who objected to him cutting the hedge, and Lu, who was "threatening him with legal action from an upstairs window".

Videos recorded by Mr Smith were played in court in which it was claimed the pair could be heard "shouting derogatory abuse", including words such as "retards".

Judge James House KC adjourned sentence for the prosecution to take victim impact statements from the Smiths and to prepare a sentencing note.

Lu agreed to co-operate with the preparation of a psychiatric report but that was declined by Chen.

Both defendants agreed to the preparation of a pre-sentence report by the Probation Service.

The pair had denied a single charge of stalking involving serious alarm or distress contrary to section 4A (1) (b) (ii) of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

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