The ‘nightmare’ neighbor racially abused the family, asked the boy to urinate in the car

Videos show a “nightmare” resident racially abusing his neighbors – and telling his son to pee in their car.

Michael Atkinson is seen threatening and abusing the Chapman-Clegg family in a series of aggressive tirades.

One video shows Atkinson encouraging his son to urinate in their vehicle and telling his son, “This is on camera. I don’t care, boy.”

In another video, “neighbors [neighbor] -from-hell’ threatens to ‘stamp’ on the heads of Martina Chapman-Clegg and her partner Andy and uses racist and sexual abuse.

In another video, the vile Atkinson can be seen walking in front of the camera and giving the thumbs up – before threatening to “burn” both of the family’s cars.

He then takes a picture of the family’s CCTV camera and says: “I hope the camera has sound recording your side of the house.”

The harassment by the father-of-three, who has 183 felonies, continued unabated and had such an impact that the family was forced to move.

mrs. Chapman-Clegg said police officers advised her to leave the home in East Malling in Kent, where she had lived for 11 years.

The family was moved into temporary accommodation for seven months by the council until a new permanent home was available, where they now live.

Atkinson, of East Malling, Kent, pleaded guilty to aggravated racial harassment between February 19 and March 3 last year.

Atkinson initially denied the offenses when he appeared in the Magistrates Court.

However, when his case was taken to the Crown Court, he pleaded guilty.

He was jailed at Maidstone Crown Court last week for 27 weeks and given a five-year restraining order banning contact with his former neighbours.

Martina, 40, said: We were so happy and content there and then he came and completely ruined our lives. We basically became homeless.

It was almost like an obsession. He was obsessed with bullying us as a family.

It had a huge impact on me, whether it was my confidence to be able to go to the store with my family and feel safe or constantly looking over my shoulder.

You read about it in the news, about the neighbors [neighbors] from hell, but you don’t expect to experience it and not at the constant level that it was.

The acts that were committed such as watching the car urinate and constant threats every night were simply merciless.

It has massively affected us as a family and although we have moved now we are still closing our doors and windows.

In a clip played at the sentencing hearing, Ms. Chapman-Clegg was standing on her doorstep as the 37-year-old unleashed his tirade, first over a garden fence and then a fence separating the two properties.

Shouting and cursing, he threatened mum saying I’m going to punch your head, stamp your head and your business, before resorting to a crude racial slur.

Another clip showed the foul-mouthed builder walking straight up to Ms. Chapman-Clegg, before returning to the estates to continue his rant, which included a racist comment about having sex with black men.

Prosecutor Trevor Wright told the court: There was a lot of shouting and a lot of words being said… Other footage was quite extensive and involved intimidating behavior [behavior] – Atkinson tells his son to pee in the car and then applauds him for doing so.

There was another one where Atkinson insulted the camera and used the word nonce, added Mr. Wright. These are just examples of the way the defendant was behaving and provoking, especially towards Mrs. Chapman-Clegg.

In a victim impact statement written by Mrs. Chapman-Clegg and read in court, she expressed the devastation and damaging effects she and her family felt as a result of Atkinson’s harassment.

She also explained how it broke her heart that people were subjected to vile and vulgar abuse simply because of race.

The court was also told that during the family’s call to 999, one of their children could be heard screaming in fear and was still suffering night terrors.

Atkinson, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, Aspergers, depression and anxiety, is said to have run afoul of the law every year of his life since he was 16, racking up numerous offences, including threatening behaviour, harassment, intimidation, assault and battery .

The court also heard he was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, does not know who his father is, his mother was killed when he was just 10 and, after saying he had been failed by the system, his offending began in what it effectively was. a call for help.

But his lawyer said at the sentencing hearing that the recovering alcoholic, now 18 months sober, wanted her to apologize on his behalf for his behaviour, much of which occurred while he had been drinking.

I am instructed to say very little about the offense [offense] himself because he understands, regardless of any provocation or dislike between the parties, it was unacceptable, said Donna Longcroft.

As for the racial element, it begs my pardon [apologize] on his behalf. That language is not one he would normally use.

He admits that the way he reacted was wrong and he should have responded to his emotions in a completely different way. Maybe without the alcohol it could have done.

Ms Longcroft added that his time in custody had been fruitful in terms of qualifications and that, with his marriage now broken, he plans to live with his uncle in Ashford on his release.

In short, he has held his hands up, taken steps to own his behavior [behavior] and to redirect his lifestyle, the lawyer added.

Passing sentence, Recorder James Dawes KC said his abuse was deeply shameful and had had significant impact.

You lose something of yourself because something within you is diminished by saying such an insult to someone, the judge explained.

You shouldn’t, you know you shouldn’t, and if you need an incentive not to, every time you do, something inside you dies.

But the effect on someone else can be substantial because the fear is that they might be attacked, not because they’ve done anything wrong, but simply because of how they look, and that’s a serious issue.

If you had said that, and if you had that fear, then you would be just as upset, and if you think bad things have happened to you, then you’re just adding to those bad things by doing it to someone else.

But you went ahead, for several days, and encouraged your children to pee in their car.

Your threats of violence included headbutting her partner (Mrs Chapman-Cleggs), and you just continued to insult them day after day.

But the recorder added that while Atkinson had pleaded guilty in the first instance and was to be congratulated for his sobriety, his leniency was outweighed by the aggravating factors of the case.

The long-term effects of installing this fear in you have massively affected our mental health

As a result, the appropriate sentence could only be achieved by immediate imprisonment of 27 weeks.

Atkinson, who was subject to an appeal by Kent Police earlier this year regarding a court order and harassment, is currently serving 120 days for breaching a suspended sentence imposed for an unrelated driving offence. the vehicle.

As he was led off the dock, he was heard saying: Money, money, money.

The Chapman-Cleggs, who sat in the public gallery throughout the hearing, were praised by the judge for their courage in attending court.

Speaking afterwards, she told KentOnline that she feels her family have finally received the justice they deserve.

She added: It has been terrible for the children. They are traumatized [traumatized] and we’re trying to convince them that it’s okay now and we’re safe now.

It’s still hard to talk about because even though he has been punished, which he deserves, the long-term effects of installing this fear in him have massively affected our mental health as a family.

Hopefully as time goes on and we now have the five year restraining order, it will just go away eventually.

For us it is the restraining order that means the most, so we have this security for a long time. It is very important that we as a family have this.

You can trust the justice system to do the right thing. We put ourselves out there so our kids can see that we can stand up to bullies and racists.