'Disagreeable old trout' jailed after making her neighbours' lives a misery

A foul-mouthed farmer who ran her own 'fiefdom' has been jailed after making her neighbours' lives a misery. Margaret Wooliscroft, who was described by her own barrister as a 'disagreeable old trout', would swear at passers-by and accuse innocent people of being 'paedophiles' and 'drug dealers'. Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard how she even laid traffic cones across the road to stop drivers getting past. And on one occasion, her geese held up the traffic. But now villagers in Brindley Ford, Staffordshire, are breathing a sigh of relief after 60-year-old Wooliscroft, of Bull Lane Farm, was sentenced to 28 months in jail.



It follows a trial which saw her convicted of five counts of breaching an anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) and one charge of racially aggravated alarm, harassment and distress. The court heard the offences, which took place between April 2014 and April 2015, came after she was given an Asbo in 2011 for similar abusive behaviour. William Dudley, prosecuting, said some of her tirades had been carried out in front of young children. He said: "One victim said her youngest son has difficulty sleeping and has been wetting the bed. She had to change her route to school in the hope of avoiding the defendant."

The offences included: Accosting a driver who had been forced to stop as her geese were in the road. Wooliscroft began shouting and swearing at him; Telling another motorist, 'You shouldn't be on my f*cking lane'; Approaching neighbours unpacking shopping outside their own home and telling them to 'get out of my f*cking house'; Calling another woman a racially offensive name. David Iles, defending, admitted his client was 'a disagreeable old trout', whose behaviour was 'persistent, outrageous and unpleasant'. But he said: "Her disastrous reputation precedes her. The net effect of that was local tittle-tattle. She was about as popular as a diesel Volkswagen. Everybody knew her and everybody was wary of her."



Mr Iles added: "It's very much 'engage mouth half-an-hour before brain', if indeed brain is ever troubled at all." The court heard Wooliscroft, who kept cattle and geese at her farm, had previous convictions dating back to 1987, including two other Asbo breaches, possession of a knife, battery, and using threatening words or behaviour. She had became so notorious, villagers pushed 'wanted' leaflets through letterboxes to try to stop her in her tracks. Jailing her, Recorder Stephen Thomas said: "You treated it as your own fiefdom to some extent. You felt you were entitled to treat people as badly as you wished and say things to them. I wouldn't quite say it was a reign of terror in your part of the village, but it made life unbearable for people. You seem to revel in what you've done."