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Noisy sex woman loses appeal bid

2009-11-11 10:51:56

A woman who was banned from making loud noises during sex has lost an appeal against her conviction.

Caroline and Steve Cartwright's love-making was described as "murder" and "unnatural" at Newcastle Crown Court.

Neighbours, the local postman and a woman taking her child to school complained about the noise.

Mrs Cartwright, 48, from Washington on Wearside, lost the appeal against a conviction for breaching a noise abatement notice.

She argued she had a right to "respect for her private and family life" under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act.

. We are in no doubt whatsoever about the level of noise that can be heard in neighbouring properties, in the street and in the back lane. .

Recorder Jeremy Freedman, Newcastle Crown Court

But Recorder Jeremy Freedman, sitting with two magistrates, rejected her claim that she could not help making the loud noise during sex.

He said: "We are in no doubt whatsoever about the level of noise that can be heard in neighbouring properties, in the street and in the back lane.

"It certainly was intrusive and constituted a statutory nuisance. It was clearly of a very disturbing nature and it was also compounded by the duration - this was not a one-off, it went on for hours at a time.

"It is further compounded by the frequency of the episode, virtually every night."

'Shouting and screaming'

Next door neighbour Rachel O'Connor told the court she was frequently late for work because she overslept having been awake most of the night because of the noise.

She said: "The noise sounds like they are both in considerable pain. I cannot describe the noise. I have never ever heard anything like it."

The court heard Sunderland City Council recorded levels of up 47 decibels.

Mrs Cartwright was appealing against the abatement notice, which was imposed in November 2007, and a subsequent Asbo, banning the couple from "shouting, screaming or vocalisation at such a level as to be a statutory nuisance".

She has since been accused of three counts of breaching the Asbo, but has denied the charges and will stand trial at Newcastle Crown Court on 14 December.