'Chav' jailed for torment
A jobless woman who terrorised an 85-year-old widow in her own home for 10 months was today behind bars.
Mother-of-one Debbie Hanson, aged 20, has been locked up for eight weeks for her campaign of torment.
It included shouting, swearing, slamming doors and blasting loud music.
She was described as a "typical chav" at West Bromwich Magistrates Court yesterday.
Hanson moved into the Tipton flat below her victim in January and within days music was blaring until 4am, visitors were constantly coming and going and abuse being hurled.
The pensioner lost two stones in weight due to the stress and only slept for an hour a night.
The widow, who has lived in her flat for 29 years, said today: "Thank goodness she has been locked up. I think she deserves what she got for what she put me through."
Throughout the hearing, Hanson cracked her knuckles and bit her nails. As she was led to the cells, her eyes filled with tears.
Miss Marion Bibb, prosecuting, said Hanson pleaded guilty to harassing the pensioner and a separate charge of criminal damage for breaking a £200 window.
After her arrest, Hanson, who was a Harden Housing tenant, moved back to her family home in Wagon Street, Old Hill.
Magistrates sentenced her to eight weeks in a young offenders' institution and issued a restraining order banning her from contacting her elderly victim.
Chair of the bench Keith Barnfield said: "Only a custodial sentence can be justified due to the difference in age between you and the victim and the length of time you caused her distress."
Mr Gerard Brady, defending, said: "When you listen to her, you think she is a typical chav individual but with intervention those issues can be overcome."
