Mum-of-three hit neighbour over the head with a spade after campaign of abuse

The family of a man who was smashed over the head with a spade by the woman next door say they are living in fear the ‘absolute nutjob will come back and finish what she started’.

Catherine ‘Cat’ Lloyd, 44, launched the astonishing attack after what police called a ‘long-running dispute’ between the neighbours in Peterborough in May 2023.

CCTV footage shows the mum-of-three approaching the victim, a man in his 20s, in the passageway that divides their houses with the garden tool raised above her head before whacking him with it.

The man’s grandparents-in-law, who live beside Lloyd, said they got on fine when she first moved in six years ago but descried how ‘the abuse started’ after they exchanged letters over some work debris that fell into her garden.

‘From there on, we were called paedophiles, we were called murderers, you name it,’ the pensioners told the Daily Mail.

‘We had to get cameras put in. She was shouting it over the fence. For nearly two years I didn’t dare go out our back gate because she’d be there all the time waiting for me.

‘We had the police out so many times and we told them she’s like a ticking time bomb. You just don’t know when she’s going to kick off.’

They said Lloyd started ‘hating’ the victim after he stood up for them and ‘gave her as much back’.

Weeks before the attack, CCTV picked Lloyd up threatening: ‘Do you have a preference? I’ve got a spade, I’ve got garden shears, or I’ve got a rake.’

While police only released footage of the spade attack, the Mail reports that Lloyd then rang her ex Aaron Hockey who turned up armed with a wooden bat which he hit him with.

Hockey was given a suspended sentence after he admitted ABH and having an offensive weapon over the incident.

The elderly couple, who cannot be named, have had an iron gate fitted to secure the passageway, said: ‘We are having to safeguard ourselves from the possibility of an absolute nutjob coming back to finish the job that she intended.’

Despite the judge imposing a restraining order on Lloyd, they say ‘there’s physically nothing to stop her’ returning because she is back on the streets and still has keys to the house next door.

Lloyd was given a 10-month prison sentence after admitting GBH but was released due to time already served on remand.

Her neighbour on the other side told the Mail she ‘feels sorry’ for Lloyd, saying she ‘was always very friendly and helpful’.

‘She needs help,’ they added.

DC Lloyd Davis said: ‘Catherine Lloyd’s behaviour in this case was completely unacceptable.

‘Irrespective of any ongoing dispute, violence like this is not the answer.

‘I’m pleased the victim can now move on.’

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