London - With their ability to mimic human speech, parrots would seem the perfect companions for lonely pensioners.
But Catherine Searle, 81, used her pet as a weapon for years in a harassment campaign against her neighbours.
She encouraged it to sing loud opera in her garden.
She also threw dog faeces across the fence and placed tacks underneath the van of next-door neighbour Paul Appleton.
The pensioner also scratched the bonnet of wife Lydia’s Toyota and smeared grease over the bonnets of both vehicles in 2018 – something Searle denied.
Her bizarre offences – which gave Mrs Appleton night terrors as a result – landed her a suspended prison sentence and a £779.77 (about R15 600) fine.
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Appleton said: "I feel nervous for my husband when he’s on the road, I’m in fear of what might happen, he could be hurt or cause a terrible accident.
"He has to go through a daily routine of checking the wheels to make sure there are no tacks and nothing has been tampered with." Searle claims the feud originally started over a parking dispute.
The Appletons said the parrot sounds were "akin to Chinese torture" like ‘very loud piercing noises". James Nichols, prosecuting, told Maidstone Magistrate's Court in Kent: "She would deliberately try and harass them.
"On one occasion she started playing loud opera music, which caused the bird to sing louder.’ Searle was given a community order in 2017 for throwing dog faeces in the Appletons’ garden.
After pleading guilty to criminal damage and harassment in December, she was given a restraining order and a suspended 70-day jail sentence. Mrs Appleton, of Sevenoaks, claimed she and her husband were not taken seriously due to Searle’s age.
She added: "If you didn’t know this lady’s age, you’d think this harassment would have to stop.
"Then we tell people she’s 81 and they laugh thinking it’s a joke. People think she’s a little old lady, she can’t do or is not capable of these things and we’re not treated seriously.
"She’s continuously finding ways to overstimulate her parrot for days on end by playing the television loudly and is using it as a weapon. We have neighbours who shun us because of this.
"For a number of years my husband and I have been subject to what we can only describe as a hate campaign and hostility from several of the neighbours.’