Neighbour told to ‘move out or go to prison’ after luring away next door’s cats
A ‘catnapper’ has been given the ultimatum of either moving house or going to jail after trying to lure away next door’s cats.
Angela Montgomery, 50, claims that the cats in her neighbour’s home are actually hers, with one of them belonging to her late mother.
Her neighbours at the retirement complex where she lives in North Yorkshire however are describing her as having “shattered the piece” with her antics.
She originally moved into Winston Court in Norton, which is run by a housing association, in order to be close to her frail mother, who has since passed away.
Montgomery insists that the cats were originally hers, before migrating next door, but a court was told that the pets were in fact microchipped to her neighbour.
She has since been trying to lure back the felines, with doorbell footage showing her calling for one of the cats and skulking around.
On another occasion she crawled into her neighbour’s home through a broken door panel that she had previously smashed.
A local resident claimed that Montgomery had assaulted her neighbour while walking from his flat on two crutches.
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Her actions landed her with a restraining order in March last year, but she has been found guilty of breaching it six times so far.
Every time she’s had to appear before a judge, with Judge Sean Morris now issuing the 50-year-old with an ultimatum.
At York Crown Court he told her: “You have already served some time in prison for rattling cat treats”.
He gave her one last chance to prove she can stay away from the cats and urged her to move house and that if she broke the order again, he would “have to refer to” jailing her for enough time that she would end up losing her flat anyway.
He said that this “is the only way to cure this problem… so look for somewhere else.”
Montgomery’s defence lawyer Rhianydd Clement however argued that the cats belong to her client, saying: “Ms Montgomery tells me they are her cats.”
She added that her client had not had the chance to engage with probation service and mental health support since she was released from prison at the end of November.
Clement explained that Montgomery is now taking steps to seek counselling for the bereavement of her mother and for anger management.