A pensioner has been jailed for throwing dog poo into her neighbour’s garden and trying to burst their tyres with drawing pins.

Maureen Booth, 67, has been jailed for 20 weeks after a court heard she launched a campaign of abuse against her neighbour.

Police had been called to the street so many times, that the pensioner had already been subject to a restraining order.

Residents on the street had compared Ms Booth to ‘Nan’ - the badly behaved character in the BBC’s Catherine Tate show.

The court heard that between January 2016 and May this year Booth, from Newton Heath , terrorised her neighbour by repeatedly shining torches into her home and hurling dog faeces into her gardens for no apparent reason.

(Image: Cavendish Press)

She also amassed a collection of 70 disposable cameras which she then used to take covert pictures of her victim as she took her children to school.

The victim told the court how she would spot camera flashes going off from Booth’s upstairs bedroom window and when she got home, the old woman - who lived alone - would hammer on her window and stick two fingers up at her.

During one incident Booth even put down drawing pins on the road outside her neighbours’ home in the hope of puncturing the tyres of a vehicle belonging to the victim’s fiancé.

Later, in another exchange a family friend of the couple was confronted at random by Booth who said: ‘Get back in you nosey b******, don’t come near my house again or you’re f****ed.’

Locals compared Booth to the foul mouthed fictional character Joannie ‘Nan’ Taylor, from the BBC’s Catherine Tate show.

But the victim said in a statement to police said she was left terrified by Booth’s behaviour.

(Image: BBC/Tiger Aspect)

She said: “I want her to be locked up, I am nervous when I leave my house and I am scared to have family and friends over because of what she might say or do. She is always watching us. As soon as it goes dark I can see her shining her torch over.”

The reason for Booth’s campaign against her neighbour were not disclosed.

In May Booth was given a suspended sentence for harassment and issued with a restraining order but last week she was hauled back before Manchester Magistrates' Court for shining lights into the victim’s home again.

She again admitted harassment and escaped with a second suspended sentence after she moved into a neighbouring street and promised not to bother her again.

She was also banned from going back to her old home and she agreed to put it up for sale, with a judge warning she could only collect her belongings if she was in the company of a police officer.

But on Sunday Booth was spotted back at the property and she was arrested again for breaching the order.

On Tuesday at Manchester Magistrates’ Court Booth was locked away for 20 weeks after admitted breaching a restraining order.

Magistrates told her: “These new offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified as these were committed during an operational period of not just one, but two suspended sentences.”

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

During an earlier hearing prosecutor Andrew Hey said: “The defendant was initially reported to police after the complainant reported Ms Booth shining lights through her window at night.

“She was handed a restraining order on May 10 but a day later, the defendant was re-arrested after it was reported that she had been taking pictures of the victim from her bedroom window as they left for school.

“The witness says she saw the flash going off and later that day, the complainant arrived home from taking her mother to hospital to see the defendant banging on the glass and holding two fingers up at her.

“The following day, the defendant again took photos and shouted abuse. The complainant’s partner was leaving the home address at 11am and the defendant began throwing down pins at the car where the vehicle had been parked.”

(Image: Cavendish Press)

In mitigation for Booth defence lawyer Richard Birtwhistle said: ‘This defendant has struggled to come to terms with the restraining order. At worst what she hasn’t had the chance to fully appreciate the terms of the restraining order or the significance of any breach.

‘Her cousin has agreed to house her in another flat which is far enough away from where the victims live so that she will find it easier to comply with the restraining order.

‘In relation to the breach on July 9, the defendant had an argument with her cousin about the speed of the transaction for her home address so that it can be sold. Her perception of that argument was that she felt she had no choice but to return home.

‘No disturbances were caused to her neighbours whilst she was at home and so this is a breach of the lowest end of the scale and it would be wholly unjust to send her to prison.’

The victim declined to comment about her ordeal.

But another neighbour said: ‘The old woman was always swearing, being obnoxious and causing trouble. People said she was like Nan out of the Catherine Tate Show, but she was lot worse than that.’