Calmore man fined after neighbours woken by noisy cockerel

Harold Brown was accused of failing to stop his cockerel from crowing over a period spanning 14 months, which he denied.

However, he was found guilty by the district judge and fined £200.

Brown, of Friars Croft in Calmore, refused to enter the dock for his trial at Southampton Magistrates’ Court before branding the case as “a conspiracy”.

It was said in court he was thought to be 80 years old, but he refused to provide his date of birth. 

Syan Ventom, prosecuting, told the court how Brown was served an abatement notice by New Forest District Council in December 2022 after a flurry of complaints about the cockerel from neighbours.

He did not silence the cockerel within the required 14 days, Mr Ventom said, but there was a brief period of respite as the bird died shortly after.

“It did not die, it was killed”, Brown interjected.

Harold Brown said the case against him was a conspiracy (Image: Newsquest) Continuing, Mr Ventom said how a new cockerel was introduced to the defendant’s garden in 2023, and complaints were again made to the council.

Six witnesses were called to the stand to give evidence, all of whom live in Friars Croft and have been disturbed by the vocal cockerel.

Barbara Cron told the court she kept a log of all the times she heard the bird from August 8, to August 14, 2023.

She said: “It has disturbed my sleep, and I am affected by the constant lack of sleep.

“I suffer with migraine attacks, and when I have those as the cockerel is crowing, it is like a form of torture it is so loud.

“I kept a log and I recorded crowing on a daily basis.”

READ MORE: Case about noisy cockerel cut short after descending into chaos

Linda Barhan lives adjacent to Brown and said both she and her grandchildren have been woken up as early as 3am in the past.

She said: “It is a constant noise and nuisance.

“It wakes me up very early and wakes my grandchildren up when they stay with me, which is a couple of times a month.

“My youngest granddaughter sleeps in our back bedroom and it always wakes her up.

“Sometimes we can hear it as early as 3am and 4am.”

Mr Brown leapt out of his chair to object to this statement – to which he was promptly told by District Judge Tim Pattinson to sit back down, adding: “This is not like what you see in American films and TV shows.”

Fellow neighbour Sharon Lucas was asked by Mr Ventom the effect the “continuous cock-a-doodle-doing” has on her life.

“I work and do some days from home, but I have had to leave the house because the noise is continuous and a constant nuisance”, she said.

Environmental health officer Arran Harmer visited the close in Calmore on August 22 of last year to carry out a review of the noise.

He told the court he could clearly hear the cockerel in Brown’s garden crowing from 5am.

While in an adjacent property, Mr Harmer recorded six crows in one minute.

READ NEXT: 'Idiot' filmed himself on high speed joy ride through Southampton

He said: “The crowing was at such a volume it could be heard from inside another property.”

But Brown disputed this, arguing that his cockerel was wearing a collar and was not crowing, rather, he was croaking.

He refused to give evidence himself before the court, and ended the trial with his submission that it was all a “conspiracy” against him.

Brown then stormed out of the courtroom as Judge Pattinson began giving his verdict.

He did not return.

Judge Pattinson said: “Mr Brown said it is all fraud and a conspiracy, but this bears no scrutiny whatsoever and I find no evidence of this.

“Would the council and barristers want to commit fraud all over a cockerel?”

He added that prosecution costs would amount to £5,500, but because Brown is on a state pension, he can only pay £300, to which his family members in the public gallery laughed at.

He was also ordered to pay a £200 fine and an £80 surcharge.