Hi, my name is Tonysp8!

Tonysp8

Hello, I am a 67 yo pensioner, been single all my life and this is the important fact , I am a straight hetrosexual male. For some unknown reason my neighbour (lets call him X ) had started accusing me of lurking outside his door, listening to his conversations, talking about him behind his back , all this in texts he sent me. I just ignored these texts as none of it was true. Then this week I get another text saying " You are a gay bas*ard and if you carry on doing this s*it I'll hurt you." abridged version. Obviously this was regarded as a threat as well as being absolutely untrue. I thought that he needed help so called in at my local health centre to ask for advice on what I could do and was recommended to report it to the police as it was harassment. I reported it straight away and talked to an officer (4 days later ,guess they were busy) and it seems my efforts to get X any help will only happen if I either allow him to attack me then call 999 or I face him up and tell him to go get help from his doctor neither option seems likely to happen. I would like some feedback and recommendations about how to proceed. Thanks in advance, Tony

SwiftFox

Go to the police and show them the supposed texts

luvpink

@Tonysp8

Welcome to the community.

I am sorry to hear you are going through this.

You need to go to the police station, show them the texts and get a crime reference number.

Keep all texts as evidence and keep a diary of any incidences that may occur.

If you are with social housing or a private renting tenant, report it to them and give them the crime reference number.

You could also seek advice from citizens advice on what a your rights are.

Tonysp8

Unfortunately I deleted the non-threatening texts after receiving them, obviously kept the latest threatening one, I have got a crime report number from the police, thanks

ps to SwiftFox, there was nothing "supposed" about them

luvpink

@Tonysp8

Please keep any future texts from him as evidence.

I'm glad to hear you got a crime number.

Kimi87

Your phone should have a recycle bin, which saves the messages for a certain amount of time before deleting them permanently.

Tonysp8

Thanks for all the feedback about the Texts, but this is not the issue, the main issue is how can I get X the help and support that he needs without getting my self walloped by him.

Kimi87

All you can do is keep logging complaints with your landlord and the police.

Avoid what face to face contact you can so as not to risk your safety with the situation escalating.

If you do cross paths, don't interact in any way with him.

I'm going through a similar situation with a mentally ill & aggressive neighbour, unless his behaviour meets the high threshold for sectioning where he might get the treatment he needs, there is little you can do sadly.

Landlord and Police have had many complaints about him over several years.

I've literally had to email my landlord today actually with another complaint after an incident means my care package is under threat due to his behaviour.

luvpink

@Tonysp8

Thats a very difficult thing to do.

I think you are probably right in thinking things will escalate further and then you may risk getting into trouble.

All I can suggest is to speak to cab for advice.

Tonysp8

Thanks for the comments, I'll try CAB.

Holly_Scope

Welcome to the community @Tonysp8. I'm really sorry to read about what you've been going through - that's awful and these things can be difficult to get resolved. You've done the right thing reaching out to the police and I can see some of our members have provided some additional suggestions. I hope you're able to get something in place to help make things better.