KILLED BY OUR NEIGHBOUR

Laura Sugden, 34, always knew the man living next door was trouble

- ANN CUSACK, LOUISE BATY

Dabbing my eyes, I reached for the bouquet of flowers sitting on my desk. The tag read: ‘Missing you already.’ And that’s when the tears really started.

It was August 2016 and I’d been with my boyfriend Shane Gilmer, then 28, a year after meeting at our council housing job. Now living together too – in Driffield, East Yorkshire – we were inseparable.

But recently Shane had moved to a different office for six months, and even though I’d see him at home, I was pining.

Shane had two children from a past relationship, and he doted on my daughter, Isabelle, then three.

We were in a happy bubble - everything was perfect. Everything except our creepy next-door neighbour.

FEELING THREATENED

Tony Lawrence, then 53, was so rude, plus we’d noticed a smell wafting from his house through the fireplace in Isabelle’s room.

‘Cannabis plants?’ I sniffed to Shane one night and he nodded, annoyed.

Not wanting an argument, we didn’t complain. But then, late one night in January 2017, deafening music blasted through the walls.

‘I’ll ask him to turn it off,’ Shane said.

He rapped lightly on Tony’s window as I poked my head out the back door. Suddenly, Tony was in his garden, swinging an axe.

‘I’ll f***ing kill you both!’ he yelled as we hurried inside and locked the doors.

I was terrified, and we reported it to the police. But we didn’t hear anything about him being interviewed or charged.

Hoping it was just a one-off, we just stayed out of Tony’s way as best we could.

Besides, we had other things to think about. In November 2017, I discovered I was pregnant.

‘It’s a girl, I just know it,’ Shane beamed and we chose the name Ella.

But while we tried to enjoy our baby’s impending arrival, the cannabis stench from next door was getting worse and Isabelle was up all night, coughing.