Loud sex ASBO breach woman spared jail

The Tyne and Wear woman found guilty of breaching an ASBO requiring her to refrain from indulging in unnaturally loud sex has been spared hard time, the Telegraph reports.

Caroline Cartwright, 48, was cuffed three times in short succession back in April last year for failing to adhere to the order, which insisted she and hubby Steve stop "making excessive noise, knocking, shouting, screaming or vocalisation that can be heard in neighbouring properties or outside the house".

Fellow residents of Washington had complained that her raucous lovemaking was making their lives a misery. Next door neighbour Rachel O'Connor explained: "The noise sounds like they are both in considerable pain. I cannot describe the noise. I have never ever heard anything like it."

Cartwright deployed a cunning defence when hauled before Newcastle Crown Court, stating that "unable to control her vocalisation during lovemaking, and any attempt at restricting her behaviour is a breach of her human rights".

No so, said the court, and Cartwright finally coughed to three charges of breaching the ASBO. She was sentenced last Friday to eight weeks in prison suspended for 12 months.

Judge Beatrice Bolton said: "An anti-social behaviour order was made against you in rather unusual terms. I've heard a very short extract of the noise you make and can well see that your neighbours would be upset and distressed by this.

"The difficulty here is that the first occurrence was the day following the order. Then three days later you breached it again. In addition it's quite clear from the small extract I heard that you made no attempt to silence yourself."

The judge declared: "Eight weeks in prison suspended for 12 months. It needs to be a prison sentence because you need to be deterred. Also if you commit further offences of this nature that sentence will be passed and you will made to serve it." ®