Couple subjected to 12-year hate campaign '˜just want it to stop'

Lin Bagley and her husband Jeff have been subjected to a string of abusive messages around their home in Sayers Common.

And things came to a head this week when their cherished pet dog Ted received death threats.

Now police are appealing for information following a new spate of graffit around Sayers Common and Albourne.

They say some has been of a sexual nature.

Lin said they at first thought it was kids who were responsible. But, she said, on one occasion a whole bin bag of dog waste was dumped in their back garden.

“It was really heavy and I knew then it couldn’t be kids,” she said. “I said then ‘I’m not having that’.”

She said the harassment had been going on for 12 years with offensive messages posted in a four-mile radius including at a nearby recreation ground, on lamp posts, a bus shelter and on vehicles.

“It’s just unreal,” she said. “The majority of it has been aimed at my husband and I but then there was one that read ‘Die Ted’ aimed at our German Shepherd dog.

“We have had various events plastered around the village. I didn’t realise how much detail of my personal life they have managed to get hold of.

“It makes me feel dirty. It feels as if someone has rummaged through my life.”

Police Community Support Officer Joel Havicon said the graffiti had been unprovoked but had caused great distress.

He said: “The Neighbourhood Police Team at Burgess Hill has completed a letter drop to a large number of residents, put up anti-social behaviour signs and completed many hours of uniformed and plain-clothed surveillance in an effort to identify the offender.

“Our enquiries continue and I’d urge anyone with information to contact us by emailing [email protected] or calling 101, quoting serial 1191 of 20/02.