Noisy Fengate neighbour given £5,000 court bill - and has karaoke mic seized - for playing reggae music

A Peterborough resident who has made his neighbour’s life a misery for more than three years has had his karaoke mic seized – and has been ordered to pay more than £5,000 at a court hearing.

George Kharou kept his neighbour at Miller Way, Fengate awake into the early hours playing his R&B and reggae music loud at weekends – and more recently on weekday afternoons.

In the past three years, courts have made a number of attempts to stop Kharou’s anti-social behaviour, seizing sound equipment and issuing thousands of pounds of fines and court costs.

Now Kharou has been given another fine – this time for £2,500 – and ordered to pay costs of £2,305, by city magistrates. They also seized a soundbar and a karaoke microphone from him.

Since April 2019, Kharou has been given a court bill of more than £13,700 in a bid to stop him playing loud music. He has also had a total of seven soundbars, two speakers and the karaoke microphone seized.

The council put in place a noise abatement notice a number of years – but Kharou has breached it on several occasions.

A spokesman for Peterborough City Council said: “This matter is part of a very long investigation that spans many years. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 is our primary legislation and one where we have a duty to act for nuisance matters. This is why we have prosecuted him 3 times under this legislation, in the hope he will comply with the Notice. Mr Kharou has consistently displayed a blatant disregard for the Noise Abatement Notice he was served with. This year he was served with a Community Protection Notice. The reason for issuing a Community Protection Notice was to ensure we have tried all tools & powers available to us as a Local Authority to resolve this matter before considering other harsher penalties.”

At the latest hearing Kharou (36), who now lives at London Road, Bicester, was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,305 and a £250 victim surcharge after being found guilty of failing to comply with a community protection notice.