Committal for Contempt of Court in Open Court at Bristol Magistrates’ Courts
12 June 2020
Bristol City Council
-v-
Nicholas Momber
Media Statement
On 12 June 2020 at the Bristol Magistrates’ Courts on an application by Bristol City Council, District Judge Watson held Nicholas Momber to be in contempt of court and sentenced him to a term of 15 weeks’ imprisonment to run concurrently on each of 13 breaches of an anti-social behaviour injunction made on 19 November 2018. The injunction (amongst other things) forbad him from feeding pigeons on the balcony of a residential tower block, from removing netting put up to prevent the pigeons from landing on the balcony and from writing abusive letters to the council’s staff. The main purpose of the injunction was to protect the health of neighbours whose balcony was also attracting the pigeons, up to 150 at a time, day and night, and with them, their noise and their droppings, and the flies and stench that accompanied them. Mr Momber was aware of the distress his conduct was causing his neighbours yet, despite warnings, breached the order on occasions in January, February and March 2019, then in September 2019 and again in March 2020. On one occasion in March he took down the netting put up by the council; on another he threw bird feed onto the neighbours’ balcony. Although Mr Momber admitted all breaches, these were persistent and deliberate breaches on numerous occasions over a long period, showing no concern for the wellbeing of the affected neighbours, and Mr Momber indicated to the court that for so long as he continued to live at the property he would continue to break the order.