A good neighbor is difficult to find and can be worth their weight in gold. But how do you really know that the person who smiles and waves from across the way truly has your best interests at heart?
What if their intentions were darker, more sinister, and downright dangerous? It might like something out of a horror movie, but it's precisely what happened to a 64-year-old widow, by the name of Debbie Wearing-Jones.
A good neighbor understands that your street is a community unto itself. They watch out for you when you aren't home, shovel the driveways of the elderly, and help you out when your car breaks down.
Sure, Ron across the way might seem like a great guy, but how do you know that he isn't moonlighting as a stalker or something far more sinister?
Debbie had lived next to her neighbor, William Nolan (59), and his wife for years. She trusted them both implicitly and even gave the couple a key to her house in order to feed the cats while she was away.
Hidden beneath the floorboards, directly underneath her living room coffee table, was a listening device. Upon further investigation, Debbie found another piece of spyware concealed in the headboard of her bedroom.
Debbie then created a ruse wherein she told her neighbor Bill's wife how she was headed out of town Thursday night and would return home the next day.
It took her neighbor Bill less than 30 minutes to slink over and let himself into Debbie's house. He quickly set to work removing the devices, closed the door to her home behind him, and left.
Once Debbie had the proof, she reached out to her adult son to help her confront her stalker neighbor. But when the two of them went to the door, Bill denied everything.
Once the police had gotten involved, Bill admitted to "Stalking without fear, alarm, or distress" and was jailed for 15 weeks at Birmingham Magistrates' Court.
He came down hard on the police for their choice of charge, which he explained severely limited his sentencing powers.
"To this day I worry thinking: 'was there anything else planted?' I still don't know whether there is," she said.
But the question remains, was this the first time Bill exhibited stalker behavior, or is this just the first time he got caught? Don't take chances with your life. Learn from Hamlet's table that, "One may smile, and smile, and be a villain."
