An 81-year-old woman dubbed the original neighbour from hell faces jail after being found guilty of six breaches of an Asbo and harassment.

Dorothy Evans, of Abergavenny, south Wales, subjected her neighbours, Angela and Roberto Casa, to months of abuse, Cardiff crown court heard. She called the family "scum" and branded Mrs Casa a "prostitute". She told her 13-year-old daughter she was a witch and would cast a spell on her.

Another unusual example of harassment involved Evans drawing a white chalk line around Mrs Casa's car as she sat in it. She then began swearing at her through the car window and hit her with her stick.

Evans's daughter, Barbara Thomas, claimed the Casa family antagonised the pensioner. She alleged that Mr Casa had once put a hose pipe through her car window while she and Evans were sitting it in and drenched her mother.
Judge Roderick Denyer QC said: "In spite of her age, I'm seriously contemplating a prison sentence as the only way of bringing home to her that she can't go on behaving like this."

The court had heard that Evans had a string of previous convictions involving neighbourhood disputes going back eight years. She was given the Asbo in May 2005, prohibiting her from causing alarm, harassment or distress to her neighbours - or indeed anyone in Gwent.

Evans did not attend the hearing as she was in hospital. Sentencing was adjourned so a medical report could be prepared. The judge said he would issue a warrant for her arrest if she did not attend that hearing without a very good reason.

Speaking afterwards, Mrs Casa said she felt relieved but was "shaking like a leaf". She said: "I don't really care what the sentence is, I just hope she never speaks to me again. I want to be able to get up in the morning and go out into my garden without having to worry about abuse."

An 81-year-old woman once described by a judge as "the original neighbour from hell" is appealing against a six-month jail sentence.

Dorothy Evans, of Abergavenny, south Wales, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on April 17 for one conviction of harassment and six breaches of her anti-social behaviour order.

Her challenge to the sentence will be heard at the Court of Appeal in London by Mr Justice Gross and Mr Justice Underhill.

Judge Roderick Denyer QC, when sentencing Evans, said: "It seems to me, despite your age and despite your infirmities, you have deliberately - for a period going on for 10 years - made life a misery for neighbours. In my view, the consequences of your behaviour must be brought home to you."

Evans' barrister David Webster told the Crown Court that she was "fearful in a way I cannot fully describe" of going to prison. He said that, because of this, the best punishment would be a suspended prison sentence to act as a deterrent and protect her neighbours.

Mr Webster said: "This is not a woman who is wholly bad but on the evidence has become obsessional about a dispute she has had with neighbours."

He said the source of Evans' dispute was flooding at her home in Park Crescent which was kept under control by constant pumping operations.

This prevented her from selling her home, he said, and she blamed this on whoever was living next door. The neighbours in this case were Angela and Roberto Casa.

At her trial in February, a jury heard how she breached the Asbo in a number of ways, including shouting abuse, calling Mrs Casa a prostitute and telling her husband to go back to Italy.

Evans also told the couple's 13-year-old daughter that she was a witch and that she would cast a spell on the family, and displayed photographs of their home in the window of her garage along with a piece of paper with the word "scum" written on it.