By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-09-22 04:50:58 | Updated at 2026-09-22 05:32:35
49 minutes ago
A 75-year-old woman has been spared jail after admitting she sprayed ant poison into her neighbour's eyes during a parking row.
Sally Beaney attacked Matthew Perry, who has terminal cancer, outside their homes in Southampton.
The assault left Perry with minor chemical burns and a mild corneal injury.
Beaney had taunted her victim by saying "no one would believe him" because she was an elderly woman and he was a "young, six-foot one-inch man", Southampton Crown Court heard.
The pair had been neighbours for around 15 years, sharing a driveway after Mr Perry moved into the street with his wife, Lucy, and their two children.
Prosecutor Gaylene Coles told the court that trouble between the pair started in June 2025 over "an issue between them with a lawnmower".
"After that, notices began to appear about parking in the wrong place," she said.
Mr Perry had initially believed he was entitled to park beside the property but "realised his mistake and parked in the road," Ms Coles explained.
Beaney responded by laying down objects such as plant pots to obstruct his parking.
Sally Beaney was spared jail at Southampton Crown Court 
PA
She also recorded the family from inside her home and shouted at them whenever they arrived or left.
The situation reached its climax on October 13 last year, when Beaney sprayed ant-killing poison directly into Mr Perry's eyes.
He was taken to hospital and later told the court he had woken up "with pain every morning for months and had to use antibiotics".
He said his first aid training had limited the harm, otherwise "the damage would have been a lot worse".
"It's difficult to write this as admitting that Sally Beaney has had such an impact on our lives is exactly what we believe she wants to happen," he said.
Perry stated that his neighbour's "obsessed and erratic" behaviour had stopped him looking after his own health.
"The stress of dealing with her has led me to have a catastrophic terminal cancer diagnosis," he said.
"I was told if it had been noticed earlier it could have been treated, but I didn't have the time to think about it."
A separate neighbour rented a private parking space just to avoid confrontation with the pensioner, telling the Telegraph: "Even if I park on my own land, she comes out and takes pictures."
Defence barrister Edward Armitage told the court: "In essence, this is a dispute between two neighbours that has very regrettably spilled over into something more. She's asked me to apologise on her behalf."
Judge Nicholas Rowland called the attack "calculating" and "deeply unpleasant".
He said: "It comes against the background of what can only be described as [Mr Perry] described it: the last year stolen from him and his family. Time is particularly precious for him and his family given his diagnosis."
Beaney pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
She received a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, along with a restraining order.
The court also ordered her to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
