Woman claims she was evicted from £15,000 beach hut for being 'too glam' and people were jealous
Is there such thing as being just really, really, ridiculously good looking? *Cue Zoolander face*
Well, apparently there is - and it turns out, you can actually be fined five-figures for it.
60-year-old Michele Spicer is currently facing a staggering £53,000 bill after she was evicted from a seaside beach hut for 'antisocial behaviour'.
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The Mercedes-driving bombshell beauty had paid a fee of £15,000 to use the beach hut in Goring by Sea, West Sussex, in the wake of a divorce in 2020.
But a row over the relaxing retreat - which she dubbed her 'mermaid haven' - led to her being taken to court after she clashed with neighbours.
Michele was accused of carelessly parking her car near the hut and of playing loud music on her car radio, triggering complaints to the council.
But Michele claimed the animosity she received from her fellow seaside-loving neighbours was due to her 'glamorous' looks and her Mercedes sports car.
“I didn't do anything wrong - but because I model and I have a nice car, they have a certain impression of me,” she previously said.
But the coastal hut was eventually taken away from her by the local council after an increasing amount of complaints from neighbours.
Unwilling to take the news lying down however, Michele initiated a 'revenge campaign' against her neighbour.
However, it ended up getting so out of hand that the victim would don a hoodie and a pair of shades even when going to the corner shop to avoid being spotted, London's High Court heard.
Michele's campaign didn't go as smoothly as planned and led to an anti-harassment injunction.
The victim was granted anonymity by the judge and therefore cannot be named.
Their barrister, Kate Strange, said the victim - who had been called a 'vulture' in Michele's Instagram posts - had been driven from the seaside town she loved, ultimately 'ruining' her life.
“The harassment complained of by the claimant included verbal abuse, pestering behaviour, intimidation and photographing, and recording of the claimant without her consent,” said the barrister.
She made 30 complaints to the police, resulting in two 'community protection orders' being slapped on Michele.
But police action 'appeared to have no effect' on her, the court heard, and in July last year the neighbour had 'no choice but to seek an injunction to curb Michele's harassment of her'.
The court order barred Michele from the waterfront near her hut, from contacting her victim or visiting the gym, and from generally 'harassing or stalking her'.
But despite the injunction, Michele 'continued to harass and intimidate the claimant', said barrister Kate, leaving the victim little option but to haul the former model to court for contempt of court.
The barrister said Michele had shown little remorse for her target, saying: "My client has had her life ruined by the actions of Ms Spicer.”
“She has chosen to uproot her life and home and job in order to get away from Ms Spicer," she added.
Michele admitted to breaching the injunction by posting 'abusive content' on her Instagram.
Her barrister told the judge she is now 'extremely remorseful', also adding there had been no physical contact between her and the victim.
During last week's ruling Judge Pearce said that despite being singled out by Michele as a key figure in lodging complaints to the council, the victim had acted 'entirely appropriately in seeking to challenge such anti-social behaviour'.
Eviction from the hut sparked 'significant aggravation and escalation in Michele’s behaviour', the judge said.
He handed Michele a 24-week sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered her to pay her neighbour’s legal costs, estimated at £53,000.
Her precious hut was taken away by Worthing Borough Council in 2021, making her the first person to be evicted from a beach hut in 25 years.
Rhianna Benson