A nasty couple stuck pictures of dead television presenter Caroline Flack to the front of their house to upset their neighbours who were told to kill themselves as she had.
Katie Bramhall, 35, and Brian Park, 43, admitted taunting the two men about the TV star’s suicide and uttering threatening homophobic remarks during a bitter feud with the pair.
It culminated in Bramhall and Park pasting more than a dozen pictures of the tragic celebrity to the front window of their home, with one of them telling the under-fire residents to “go do a Caroline Flack and kill yourself”.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard the two men felt forced to move away from the area to escape Bramhall and Park’s distressing hostility.
Fiscal depute Andrew McMann told the court that the offensive couple had been friends with the neighbours but a falling out had occurred in the middle of last year.
Terrifying homophobic statements
It resulted in Bramhall and Park waging a campaign of abuse against the two men, including offensive comments about their sexuality.
Around August 12 last year, one neighbour returned home and overheard Park state something about people being murdered and that it “should happen to all gays”.
A week later, they heard Park shout from his back garden: “It’s coming, it’s coming, enjoy your party boys.”
The men believed Park meant that he was going to hurt them in some way.
Through their initial friendship, Bramhall and Park became aware that one of the men had been highly upset by the suicide of television presenter Caroline Flack and that it was a “trigger” for him.
Ms Flack tragically took her own life in 2020, following a high-profile incident for which she received a police caution after assaulting her then-partner.
The fiscal depute stated that on September 18, the complainer was in his back garden when he heard one of the accused shout: “Go and do a Caroline Flack and kill yourself”.
He later noted that the couple had put a picture of Caroline Flack in their garden.
And the next day, around 15 pictures of Caroline Flack had been placed in the front window of their house.
“This was seen by the complainer and caused great distress and impacted heavily on his mental health,” Mr Mann said.
Vile couple called gay neighbors ‘perverts’
Following the incident, Bramhall and Park were reported to the police and appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
They had an interim court order imposed on them, banning the couple from approaching or contacting their neighbours.
However, soon after, they began swearing at them and calling them derogatory names such as “perverts”.
Park was also seen shouting when he saw the two men had put up a CCTV camera, stating: “Better not be recording my f****** kids”.
Threats to “smash” the men’s faces and “batter” them were also made, causing the two men “extreme distress”.
They later decided to move house for their own safety.
‘I tend to speak before I think’
In the dock, Bramhall and Park pled guilty to one charge of engaging in a course of conduct that was abusive by uttering derogatory remarks related to sexual orientation and making threatening gestures towards the two men.
They also admitted to one charge of breaching a court order not to approach or contact their former neighbours.
Representing herself in court, Bramhall said she “held her hands up” on the Caroline Flack pictures, stating: “I did do that, but there was no smoke without fire.
“I didn’t think at the time. I admit it. I tend to speak before I think.”
Park, also representing himself, claimed the two men would party late into the night, adding that one of the men “couldn’t handle his drink”.
“This was at 3am and we had three children at the time all under the age of six.”
Behaviour in neighbour dispute ‘gone wrong’ was ‘beyond the pale’
Park also denied ever making any homophobic remarks towards his neighbours.
Sheriff Rhona Wark described the situation as a neighbour dispute “gone wrong” but told Bramhall her behaviour was “beyond the pale”.
She also told Park that “frankly” she wouldn’t expect this type of behaviour from a man of his age.
Sheriff Wark fined Bramhall and Park, of Deevale Road, Aberdeen, a total of £640 each and put a non-harassment order in place, meaning they cannot approach their former neighbours for two years.
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