A POLISH woman who suffered racially aggravated harassment at the hands of her next door neighbour was left “frightened in her own home”, a court heard.

Agnieszka Mounsey moved to Drovers Drive, Kendal, with her English husband and three children in May 2014.

South Lakeland Magistrates Court was told that ‘ongoing issues’ with neighbour Stephen Sennick, which started with ‘minor things’ such as parking, culminated in two racially aggravated incidents.

Sennick, 40, now of Castle Grove, pleaded guilty to both offences – the first occurred on August 25 when Mrs Mounsey was sitting in her back garden with her family in the evening.

She heard Sennick shouting racist abuse about them and recorded it on her camera.

Lisa Hine, prosecuting, said: “Mrs Mounsey was concerned about this completely unacceptable behaviour – she found it very upsetting that someone should be abused because of their race.”

The second incident happened on September 6, where again Mrs Mounsey heard Sennick swearing and shouting racist language and recorded it to give to the police.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mrs Mounsey said the situation with Sennick had ‘affected her whole life’.

“I was really happy when I moved to my new house but now I’m frightened for my safety and my children.

“I can’t relax in my own home and I find myself crying and getting really upset."

In mitigation, Rachel Broughton said Sennick ‘is not a racist’ and the issues started out as ‘a genuine neighbour dispute’.

She said: “These comments were not made face-to-face – they were made within the confines of his home and overheard by the complainant.”

Ms Broughton added that Sennick’s marriage had been breaking down at the time and the dispute with his neighbours “was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Magistrates handed Sennick a community order including 80 hours of unpaid work and supervision for one year.

Sentencing him, chair of the bench Jenny Farmer said: “These offences had a significant impact on the victim, her children and her everyday living - clearly it caused great distress to her.”

Sennick was also ordered to pay £200 court costs and a £60 victim surcharge.