Giles Coren accepts police caution for verbally abusing neighbour after row over parking outside his home

He is the restaurant critic known for his fiery temper, who sent abusive emails to colleagues, had a fake Polish Twitter account and wrote ‘sickening’ tweets about the death of a journalist. 

Now Giles Coren’s furious row with his North London neighbours for parking his car in a space designated for their disabled child has escalated further.

The Mail can reveal today that the Times restaurant critic and former presenter of Amazing Hotels, Giles Coren, has been cautioned for threatening the life of his neighbour.

The Mail has learned that Coren spent around ten minutes at the top of his neighbour’s steps, telling her he would ‘kill’ her, she was ‘f*****g dead’ and that she had ‘ruined [his] life’.

The Met Police confirmed Coren’s caution, stating: ‘A man in his 50s was issued a caution and this was accepted.’

Officers from Camden were investigating a suspected public order offence which took place in NW5 at around 11.20pm on Wednesday, 11 October.

Coren was interviewed by detectives on Friday October 20.

Accepting a caution means that Coren has admitted the offence and will have a criminal record.

Coren has as yet failed to apologise to the 52-year-old.

Hot-tempered Giles Coren has accepted a police caution for verbally abusing his neighbour after a row over parking outside his home

Speaking exclusively to the Mail, the neighbour, who asked to be named only as Ms Turner, who works with people with special needs, and has a 15-year-old son, who is autistic, shared her ordeal.

The mother-of-one said: ‘We were all in bed. Me, my autistic child and the friend who stays with me a couple of nights a week. I was already asleep. The intercom goes, so I answered it. And somebody says, “I’ve got a delivery for you”. 

READ MORE: Police investigate Giles Coren over claims he verbally abused neighbour after row over parking outside his home

‘I’m like, “what the hell – it’s 11.30 at night”. My son, who’s autistic, jumps up out of bed and said, “that’s weird”. He gets dressed immediately. I go up to the door, ask again, “Who is it?”

‘”I’ve got a parcel for you”.

‘When I open the gate, Giles Coren barged his way into my property. He had his suit on, shiny shoes, and looked like he’d come back from some kind of business event.

‘As I opened it, he pushed me back and I nearly fell over. I’m like, “what you doing?”. I walked down the steps quickly, went into my house, and shut my door.

‘Then he spent ten minutes at the top of the steps, banging, almost smashing my front door glass in my door. And calling me, telling me he’s going to kill me, I’m f*****g dead, you’ve ruined my life, my wife won’t let me back in the house. 

‘Screaming so much at the top of his voice that he woke all the neighbours up. I came straight in. My friend was absolutely terrified. My son went and grabbed a knife. I shut the front door, rung 999. While I was on the call, the operator was saying, ‘Is that him I can hear in the background?’

Mr Coren got into a furious row and blamed his wife for parking a car in a space designated for his neighbour’s disabled child

‘I’m not secret about what I do in Camden and my child’s difficulties and needs. He knew my child would be at home with me. I’m a single parent and he’s autistic. He traumatised my child.

‘He left my house about 15 minutes before he went online and started abusing your journalist. His behaviour was horrific. It was extreme. I can’t sit back as a neighbour living on the same street with a vulnerable, teenage disabled child and not say something. 

‘I mean it’s gone beyond the level of it’s just nasty words online now. This is beyond the pale of a neighbourly dispute over parking. It’s an escalation of his general nasty behaviour.

‘At one point, my friend said “what are the noises he’s making?”. He was like an Indian warrior war cry. And he wanted to wake everybody up to tell them I had ruined his life, his wife won’t let him in the house. 

‘I’m dead. He’s going to kill me. F*****g dead. You stupid, f*****g whore. All of that out of his mouth. In my garden, with my own autistic child in the house.

‘It has given me panic attacks and I haven’t been able to sleep since.

‘I think the escalation in what he was saying and his behaviour may have been because I didn’t engage with him. It felt like because I wasn’t giving him any attention, he was continuing to raise the volume, make these horrendous chanting noises. When I was at the top of the gate, I did feel frightened immediately.

‘I did genuinely fear that if he got in, he would hurt me.’

Mr Coren pictured with his wife Esther Walker in 2015. Coren told his neighbour in foul-mouthed rant ‘my wife won’t let me back in the house’ 

On 8 November, Ms Turner tweeted: ‘Just reported further harassment by @gilescoren to the @metpoliceuk Let’s see how the police deal with him not leaving me alone @richardaeden @MailOnline #maleviolence #somemennotallmen @thetimes.’

Ms Turner filed a further crime report against Coren for the comments made about her in his podcast dated 3 November. In it, he accuses her of maybe intending to daub antisemitic graffiti on his home. At the time he had been told no contact and Ms Turner says this is likely indirect contact.

Speaking on his Giles Coren has no idea podcast, Coren said: ‘I wanted to leave (the country) as a result of neighbourhood difficulties with a particular neighbour with a particular bee in their bonnet posting on local social media untrue things about us, and that getting in the paper, and feeling besieged in our own home and horrid things here. 

‘And then thinking at home who knows maybe they might daub a swastika or a Star of David on the outside.’

Ms Turner tells the Mail that there is an ongoing police investigation as the Met are coming out tomorrow to interview her after Coren posted about her on his podcast.

Coren admitted he was talking about Ms Turner in the podcast to the detective.

Ms Turner says: ‘The death threat case had already been closed pending issuing the caution before I reported the podcast. So this is now categorised as further harassment.

‘I want conditions attached to a caution at the very least.

‘I also found out the report I made about his podcast was not taken into account. I have requested that part of him accepting the caution is he has to write an apology to me and one to my son. And agree to not discuss anything related to this situation online and never to contact me.’

The detective investigating was originally a detective constable, before being passed to the Criminal Investigation Department.

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