Margaret says her nightmare is over after Anthony Kenyon was evicted (Picture: Margaret Ilkovics/Cavendish Press)
A nightmare neighbour who started a feud with a widow over a shrine to her late husband has been evicted.
Former social worker Anthony Kenyon vandalised neighbour Margaret Ilkovikcs’ home by shoving raw octopus through her letterbox and splattering the home in raw eggs and cocoa powder.
Margaret, 71, described the five-year campaign as a ‘living hell’ but says her ‘nightmare was over’ now Kenyon has been evicted from his home in Salford, Greater Manchester.
Kenyon, 52, faced up to four years in prison after admitting breaching a restraining order, but he was spared jail when he was handed a 13 month suspended sentence.
He was also given a new four-year restraining order and was ordered to complete 25 rehabilitation activity days.
Following the sentencing at Manchester crown court, Margaret told MailOnline: ‘I am so happy he’s not living next door to me anymore and has been evicted.
Margaret was proud of her garden before the harassment began (Picture: Margaret Ilkovics/Cavendish Press)
This is what was left of her garden (Picture: Margaret Ilkovics/Cavendish Press)
Margaret and Richard married in hospital not long before he died from cancer (Picture: Margaret Ilkovics/Cavendish Press)
‘I can smile again and finally look forward to a happy Christmas after all this time.
‘But in the back of my mind, I’m worried he will come back and it will start again.
‘However, I can feel relieved that justice has been done and he won’t be living next door to me again.
‘My living nightmare may finally be at an end. It’s been hell.’
Kenyon claimed that Margaret’s memorial to her late husband Richard in a communal garden at Regina Court was a ‘health and safety breach’.
The shrine, placed under a pussy willow tree, included ornaments, a memory box and shrubs – but Kenyon uprooted the 3ft tree, killed off the plants with weed killer and damaged the ornaments.
He also wrote notes claiming Margaret only married Richard, who died of cancer aged 55 in 2018, for his money.
She said Kenyon would ‘rant and rave’ at her from behind a window at his flat and call ambulances to her home, wrongly claiming she had a severe mental illness and needed ‘taking away’.
The row broke out shortly after the shrine appeared in the communal garden, and he was first convicted of harassment in September 2018. He was convicted again in February 2019, and then in 2020 he was given a two-year restraining order against Margaret but he ignored it.
Kenyon was arrested after she installed a security camera to capture him targeting her home.
Margaret said her nightmare is now over (Picture: Margaret Ilkovics/Cavendish Press)
Anthony Kenyon was spared jail but he has now been evicted (Picture: Cavendish Press)
Margaret, a grandmother, added: ‘He tormented me and hounded me day after day, night after night.
‘It was a living hell. I was a prisoner in my own home. I could hear him banging and shouting abuse through the walls.
‘I was scared to leave my front door as he’d be out there ready for me if I left. I really want to end it and kill myself.
‘It was horrendous. I would cry out for my husband even though he died.
‘I was terrified. But it even started when Richard was alive as he tore plants up. I miss my husband so much. I loved him with all my heart.
‘One time he threw a brush at my head. I genuinely feared he would kill me or at least hurt me badly. He came at me a few times with genuine hatred and anger.
‘It was terrifying. He’d also target a few other neighbours, pouring petrol on gardens and super-glued locks.
‘But they were scared to report him in case he targeted them.’
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‘I can smile again and finally look forward to a happy Christmas after all this time.’