A MAN put up "highly intrusive” CCTV cameras on 4m poles to spy on his neighbours in a bitter row, a court heard.
Kevin Grogan allegedly turned his home into a "nuclear submarine base" after installing night-vision cameras that were protected by barbed wire.
The 68-year-old also blocked off a public alleyway using building waste and a locked gate, it is said.
Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard Grogan installed the cameras after falling out with his neighbours in Rochdale.
He has been accused of twice failing to comply with a community protection notice (CPN) by not reopening the alley or re-positioning the cameras away from public areas and back gardens.
Grogan was issued the order in March 2021 after his neighbours complained to police.
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He was told to stop blocking the alleyway and remove the cameras and the 4m poles they sat on.
This was changed in May 2022, with Grogan instead ordered to re-position the CCTV system so it only overlooked his property.
Former police sergeant Richard Garland told the court he was called to Grogan's home in February last year while he was still a serving officer.
He described the camera system as "highly intrusive" and was unable to enter the alleyway as it was blocked off by a farm-style, padlocked metal gate.
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PS Garland said he at first put bin bags over the cameras to "nudge" Grogan into removing them but these were just ripped down.
When he later seized the CCTV system, Grogan just erected a new network in its place, it is said.
The court was told there had been a dispute between Grogan and neighbour Mohammed Alam.
James Hudson, defending, said there was "harassment which escalated into violence" from Alam that recently ended in a public order offence conviction.
Grogan previously said the cameras were for his protection after he received threats.
But PS Garland said claims that Grogan was the victim of a “large number” of harassment incidents had “not stood up to scrutiny”.
Grogan denies two charges of failing to comply with the CPN by not removing “barbed wired festooned camera poles” at his property, not sighting his CCTV cameras “in such a position they weren’t recording public areas and neighbours garden”, and not “blocking access’ to common land.
The trial continues.
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