A WRITER and his wife allegedly launched a hate campaign against their neighbours which mirrored the plot of his novel.

In 2020, David Aston, 55, published A Stroke of Fortune, which was edited by his wife Jacqueline Aston, 57, about a stroke victim who targets his neighbours after developing superpowers.

The Astons were on trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court this week accused of carrying out a long-standing hate campaign against neighbours at Blackadder Crescent, Ferrygate, North Berwick.

The couple, who deny all charges, are alleged to have made a series of false claims to the authorities that their next-door neighbours were abusing their children, dealing drugs and committing fraud.

Between late 2018 and summer 2021, the Astons, it is claimed, caused neighbours Catriona Henderson and Stuart McMorris; Marie Bain and Robert Bain; and Marianne and Marcus Weurman fear and alarm through a series of alleged acts including shouting and swearing at them, filming them and their visitors, throwing glass on a driveway and being aggressive towards them.

The court heard that Mr Aston and wife Jacqueline, a registered nurse who has worked in the NHS and the private care sector, repeatedly reported next-door neighbours Mr McMorris, an online designer, and Ms Henderson, a school teacher, to the police and the NSPCC, claiming that the couple were guilty of child neglect.

'False reports'

It is also alleged that the Astons reported Ms Henderson to the General Teaching Council of Scotland, claiming that she was an unfit person to be a teacher, and contacted the children’s charity the NSPCC and East Lothian Council children’s services to “make malicious, vexatious and false reports . . . that their children were being abused and neglected”.

The charges also allege that the Astons wrote to their MP and MSP to complain about the couple.

Further allegations include that the Astons repeatedly filmed their neighbours, soaked their neighbour’s children with a sprinkler and deliberately handled their property without gloves during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Court papers also allege that the pair threw shards of glass, compost and debris onto a neighbour’s property as well as “indicating they wanted to dump infected grass” in a neighbour’s garden.

The trial was told that Mr Aston wrote a novel featuring a character who developed superpowers following a stroke and who sets out “dealing with the local neighbourhood” after residents “decided that he was not welcome anymore”.

Mr Aston, a former chartered accountant, penned A Stroke of Fortune after he had suffered serious injuries including brain trauma and a stroke following a motorway car crash 10 years ago.

'I'm shaking'

Prosecution witness Stuart McMorris, 46, told the trial that he was “astonished” when he looked at Mr Aston’s online profile and read the description of the novel in 2020.

He said: “I’m shaking at the moment just thinking about this. We were almost living what we were reading here.”

Mr McMorris spent four days giving evidence detailing the catalogue of abuse he claimed he and his family had suffered at the hands of their neighbours.

Mr McMorris said that the couple’s conduct against them started soon after they moved into their four-bedroom home on Blackadder Crescent in October 2018.

He said that initial problems included his children being “deliberately” sprayed with water when they played in their garden and arguments over the placement of refuse bins.

But the father-of-two told the court that their neighbours’ behaviour towards them escalated when he witnessed them filming and taking photographs of his family.

'Utterly appalling'

He told the trial that he and partner Ms Henderson then began receiving visits from the police and the local authority after “anonymous complaints” were made against them.

He said that complaints were also made to the NSPCC in 2020 by “an anonymous neighbour” who was claiming that he and his partner were neglecting and abusing their children.

Mr McMorris said: “We were already stressed out but this was utterly appalling.

“I couldn’t believe someone would stoop to this kind of behaviour towards us.”

“She [Mrs Aston] was trying to get the children taken away from us,” he claimed.

He also told the court that officers from Crimestoppers attended his property the same year following a further anonymous report claiming that he was dealing drugs and abusing his children.

He said: “It seemed like another tactic to damage our lives and our reputations.”

'Strange obsession'

Mr McMorris told the court that he “suffered huge amounts of distress” and said that all the “frivolous” complaints made to the authorities against them resulted in no action ever being taken.

The court then heard that two complaints were made to the General Teaching Council for Scotland claiming Ms Henderson was dealing drugs from her home.

The complaints also claimed that Ms Henderson was “an unfit mother” and she was guilty of neglecting and abusing her children.

Prosecutor Clare Green told the court: “It is a matter of agreement that in April 2020 the GTCS received two referrals from an individual who identified themselves as Jacqueline Aston from Blackadder Crescent, North Berwick.”

Ms Henderson, 45, took to the witness stand on Monday, where she said Jacqueline Aston had “a strange obsession” about the positioning of her bins at the front of her house. She also claimed her children were intentionally soaked by the sprinkler system and delivery drivers dropping off parcels to her home were repeatedly filmed.

The teacher told the court that on one occasion before the Astons switched on their sprinkler, she overheard Jacqueline Aston say: “Let the games begin”.

Ms Henderson added that the Astons had called the police to report her and Mr McMorris for alleged threatening behaviour in 2019.

But after speaking to the officers, she said the couple were advised to start logging all the incidents they believed to be harassment.

Ms Henderson also told the court the police matter resulted in no action being taken against them.

The Astons deny all the allegations against them and the trial, in front of Sheriff John Cook, is due to continue in December.