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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Alec Whitaker & Ryan Fahey

Mum branded 'neighbour from hell' run out of town after angry locals set up online petition

A mum-of-five branded a "neighbour from hell" has been run out of town after angry locals set up an online petition to have her evicted from their upmarket housing estate.

Gemma Lucketti, 37, has a long history of anti-social behaviour including an arrest for attacking an Audi Q3 with a knife and hammer - resulting in £1,500 damage.

Frustrated residents on the Oldfield Brow estate in Altrincham, Greater Manchester - where houses sell for £400,000 - each posted a petition on Change.org demanding Trafford Council evict her.

Calling themselves: "The People of Oldfield Brow" they demanded: "Get Gemma Lucketti evicted and stop her causing any more harm to others in Altrincham.

"We want Gemma evicting from Oldfield Brow to ensure no more people or families endure unnecessary abuse physical or non physical.

"Let us live in peace in our community without fear of this woman and her actions!!!! We need to stand up to bullying as a community."

The local residents each started a petition on Change.org demanding Trafford Council remove her from the area (Gemma Lucketti/ Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)
The mum-of-five has a long history of anti-social behaviour in the area (Copyright Cavendish Press/Ricky)

The petition has attracted 29 signatures since it was posted three months ago.

Last week at Minshull Street Crown Court it emerged Lucketti had agreed to move out of her rented three bedroomed semi under a "house swap" arrangement as she pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing an offensive weapon and criminal damage.

But after the case one neighbour Korina Arden, 34, said she won't be celebrating being rid of Lucketti until she is gone.

Ms Arden added that she has been blamed and threatened on social media for setting up the petition, but says she is not responsible.

"I've had to have a 15-foot fence put around my property because Gemma's smashed my back door in", she said.

"I'm not comfortable going to the local shop as I'm worried I will bump into her. I think she plays on her mental health, it's so easy just to blame it on that."

Ms Arden said she has urged council housing officers to take action and that she is scared of something "really dreadful" happening if she is not stopped.

"She's dangerous and there is no stopping her", Ms Arden added. "She's the worst neighbour you could ever imagine."

Beautician Sarah O'Brien, 36, said: "The whole family are just a menace. Gemma's like this with everybody.

"She's a drug-fuelled psychopath and there loads of stuff she's done where police have taken no action against her.

"She smashed my car to Smithereens and cost thousands of pounds worth of damage.

"It came completely out of the blue, I just heard smash, smash, smash and I went to the window. It took four or five men to restrain her that day.

"The police came with tasers and she was walking towards the taser as if something out of The Avengers.

"One night I could hear her shouting 'Karina, I am going to burn your kids alive' and 'Sarah, I am going to burn your house down'. She must have been up all night on drugs."

Ms O'Brien fears that Lucketti has breached her tenancy to the level that she will be unable to swap her home.

"This isn't a woman, she's like a beast", Ms O'Brien said.

"She has no decorum. There's nothing nice about her. Whenever she gets her dole money, she's goes on a drug binge, she'll be back."

The court heard Lucketti had moved to the estate with her children in 2010 but neighbours were said to have complained about her being drunk and under the influence of drugs.

Matters deteriorated further when Ms O'Brien and her boyfriend Mark Woods moved into an adjoining property in 2016 and there were arguments over the behaviour of Lucketti's children.

Police were eventually called on June 15 this year after the feud erupted into violence and the windows on Ms O'Brien's car were smashed.

Prosecutor Catherine Allen detailed the confrontation - made worse by the defendant who was "under the influence of drugs and alcohol".

"Sarah O'Brien was in her rear garden when she heard someone shouting. She recognised it was this defendant who was at the front of the property bouncing a weapon off Miss O'Brien's Audi," Ms Allen said.

"Mr Woods ran out to confront the defendant but she shouted 'get off my hammer' as Miss O'Brien rang the police. Mr Woods was trying to restrain this defendant and the hammer bounced off her car and hit Miss O'Brien in the face.

A neighbour heard Lucketti screaming "I'm going to burn your kids alive" (Gemma Lucketti/ Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)

"The defendant said 'You are dead, you s**tbag, you are dead.' There was a knife and a hammer next to the defendant on the floor. It was around 15 inches long.

"The defendants daughter turned up shouting 'Get off my Mum'. Her daughter was trying to pull her partner off her. Police then up and the defendant was screaming 'You are all getting it'.

"Mr Woods took the hammer out of her hands and the large knife and took it back to his car and locked the door. Police describe how she had blood on her face.

"She was distressed and there was damage to the car. Police recovered a kitchen knife and a hammer. The defendant was arrested on suspicion of being in possession of a black and red screwdriver, knife and a hammer."

The court heard Lucketti was taken to hospital for her injuries and later made full admissions in interview. She had previous convictions for battery upon a relative and assault on an emergency worker from December 2019.

In mitigation defence counsel Laura Broome drew attention to Lucketti's bipolar and emotionally unstable personality disorder, and her troubling childhood.

She also claimed that Lucketti had been subjected to physical and verbal abuse herself and that he windows were smashed the night before the incident.

When she went to cause damage to the vehicle, Lucketti claims she was hit over the head with a hammer.

The lawyer said the mum-of-five is remorseful over her actions and "understands the seriousness of the offences."

To avoid similar incidents in the future, Lucketti agreed to do a house swap, Ms Broome added.

"She does [not] want anything to do with these neighbours again [...] She is hoping to move away as soon as possible," Ms Broome said.

Lucketti was ordered to complete an 18 month community order, attend a Government 'problem solving court' and pay £100 costs.

Sentencing the judge Miss Recorder Abigail Hudson warned Lucketti to have no further contact with her neighbours before moving.

She said Lucketti's attack on the Audi was pre-meditated after she took "three different kinds of weapons out with you".

"Your neighbours think you are a violent person and you were out on the street thinking in a violent way. This is a very serious offence," she added.

Recorder Hudson took into account Lucketti's "serious mental health illnesses" and advised her to "get to grips" with them".

"You had a profoundly disruptive reaction to certain issues and to me it seems your illness was out of control that day," she added.

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