A woman in Norwich, UK, was recently banned from singing and playing loud music in her apartment, after neighbors complained that her screeching sounded like “a drowning cat”.
48-year-old Heather Webb has reportedly terrorized neighbors in her apartment building with her singing for at least four years. In 2014, her neighbors filled anti-social behavior forms and sent them to the local council, but she only received a community protection warning from the police. Then, in 2016, neighbors again complained to the council about her loud, disturbing singing, but no action was taken against the woman. Finally, in December of last year, a judge issued Webb a Criminal Behavior Order which legally banned her from singing in her apartment. But she didn’t let that stop her.
The 2-year-order forbade Heather Webb from “engaging in conduct which causes alarm or distress” and also banned her from “playing music, singing, shouting or creating noise at a volume which can be heard outside of her property”.
Magistrates were told that Webb broke the terms of the order at least three times, in January and February of this year, and some neighbors presented audio proof of that. For example, Paul Burford, who lives 40 meters from the amateur opera singer’s ground floor apartment, used a smartphone app to record her singing and sent it to the local council as evidence.
The judge found Heather Webb guilty of breaching the order on three separate occasions – January 8 and 9, and February 7 – and a “no bail” warrant was issued for her arrest.