Victims who were terrorised by ‘neighbours from hell’ David and Jacqueline Aston have praised the sentence that means their tormentors are being forced to move house.
Marie and Robert Bain described their three year ordeal at the hands of the disabled author and his wife as “a living hell” and have praised a sheriff’s decision to ban the couple from the street they live in.
David Aston, 56, and his wife Jacqueline, 58, were handed non-harassment orders banning them from having any contact with their next door neighbours for the next 15 years.
The Astons were also given a further order that will ban them from the street – Blackadder Crescent in North Berwick, East Lothian – for the same length of time that will begin in January next year.
The unusual sentencing imposed at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday effectively means the couple will now have to leave their £500,000 home where they have lived for the past six years.
The couple were found guilty of carrying out a three year hate campaign against neighbours Catriona Henderson and her partner Stuart McMorris and Marie and Robert Bain.
A third couple who live nearby were also included in the 15 year banning order after suffering at the hands of the Astons.
Sheriff John Cook told the guilty couple they also have to pay Ms Henderson, Mr McMorris and the Bains a total of £10,000 to compensate for the abuse they inflicted between 2018 and 2021.
The victims, accompanied by family and friends packed into the small courtroom this week to hear the outcome of the lengthy trial that took 24 days to complete over the past 11 months.
Ms Henderson, a high school teacher, and her partner Mr McMorris declined to speak but their close friends and neighbours Marie and
Robert Bain spoke of their relief outside the court building following the sentencing.
Marie, 67, said: “I am absolutely delighted – obviously a custodial sentence would have been just, but we got the best outcome because the Astons are going to have to leave [the estate].
“They always thought they were above the law but today the law is above them.
“This has been going on for five years, three years for these particular charges, and it’s been constant every day and it has taken over every part of our life but thankfully no more, no more.
“This has affected both of our health massively as I was on medication and I have never been on medication in my life before all of this started.
“She’s robbed me of my retirement, I’ve been retired for seven years, but I don’t feel I’ve had a retirement but I’m hopefully going to start now.
“This has affected not only us but our family members as well as we had to stop inviting people round to our home because of the behaviour of the Astons.
“Hopefully we can now start getting on with the rest of our lives.”
Mr Bain, 64, said: “My wife has gone through hell over this and we are both very emotional at the moment.
“We were hoping for the banning order for the street and although custody would have been great having a non-harassment order meaning they have to move is a wonderful outcome.
“I’d like to say thanks to the sheriff because he saw right through them – all their lies, all their deceit and all their fibs. He really nailed them to the wall and I’m so pleased.
“I’d also like to thank the procurator fiscal Clare Green who was quiet and measured throughout, but very, very effective.”
The Astons made false reports to the police and local authority about their neighbours and recorded them on mobile phones on a near daily basis over the three year period.
Jacqueline Aston made malicious reports concerning Ms Henderson to the General Teaching Council for Scotland in a bid to wreck her teaching career claiming she was neglecting her children and using drugs.
The staff nurse, who has since lost her job, also reported Ms Henderson’s partner to the council and mortgage company falsely claiming he was running a business from his home.
The court also heard the Astons had made an incredible 248 phone recordings of the Bain family and their movements over a three month period – including 67 in just one day.
The trial was told David Aston, a former chartered accountant, had written and self-published a book that featured a character who develops superpowers following a stroke.
The character in the novel A Stroke of Fortune then uses his superpowers to wreak revenge on his local community.
Aston penned the novel after suffering serious injuries including brain trauma and a massive stroke following a motorway car crash 10 years ago.
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