A lawyer who is known as the 'White Witch of Rye' received a conditional prison sentence after she had admitted that she had harassed an older magician and went into a violent disaster in his house.
Barbara Maura Lane, 42, is said to have been obsessed with Alfred Douglas after he has registered for his magical course.
Mr Douglas, 80, is a world -famous expert in the field of tarot cards and the occult and even advised the deceased actor Peter Sellars.
Last May Lane – furiously and reportedly drunk – hit her way in his house in Rye, East Sussex, and went on a disaster, food on his computer sming and his possessions damaged.
Lane, an Irish Republican, had flown in anger when seeing a portrait of King Charles III and Union Jack Bunting in the store of Mr Douglas.
The terrified magician fled 'in fear' in his bedroom and then locked himself in his bathroom.
When he escaped the help of friends and family, he was confronted with Lane in a coffee shop nearby.
She was arrested and was later admitted to intimidation and causing criminal damage to Mr Douglas's house and breaking his greenhouse.
The lawyer, based in Dublin, also admitted that he gained the author and academic with phone calls and text messages.
Dressed from head to toe in black, Lane appeared today at Hove Crown Court, where it was sentenced to four months in prison, 18 months suspended and ordered £ 2,597 to pay for compensation.
Barbara Maura Lane (shown) is said to have been obsessed with Alfred Douglas after he has registered for his magical course
Alfred Douglas is a world -famous expert in the field of tarot cards and the occult
Lane went on a rampage after seeing a portrait of King Charles III and Union Jack Bunting in the store of Mr Douglas
A former lawyer and legal editorial employee, Lane visited Mr Douglas's house for the first time in 2019 about the pretext to see his library at the occult.
The couple became friends, shared a joint love for magic and mysticism and she moved to his separate garden flat for a short period before she returned to study in Dublin.
When Covid broke out, she pulled him over to let her stay back in his garden and claimed that she could not live anywhere after her father died and mother had a stroke.
But friends and family of the elderly widower were increasingly worried that he seemed to fall under her spell.
“They became inseparable,” said Mr Douglas' cousin Paul Wilson-Patterson last year. “She had his bank card and control over his bank account.
“She checked what he ate, what he drank, the clothes he was wearing, who he saw and when he saw them.”
The couple was also shocked to discover that Mr Douglas had changed his will, making Lane the only beneficiary of his house and shop – worth around £ 1.5 million.
Lane, the nickname locally as the white witch of Rye, is said to have lied to the locals about his caregiver, who wrongly suggests that the academic was suffering from dementia.
Mr Douglas would later tell the police that he felt 'intimidated' because of her 'compulsive behavior', because Lane often told him that he was old, sick and dying.
He told officers that she abused him and kicked his calves as he walked to make him move faster.
Family members say that Lane would precipitate famous gin and fly into drunk anger, screaming at the older academic and smashing plates, mugs and glasses.
In the worst uncle, cousin Paul Wilson-Patterson and his wife Anna started a diary of the frequent violent eruptions.
“We thought we would visit him and find him dead at the bottom of the stairs,” said Mrs. Wilson-Paterson. “She was like a Succubus.”
Barbara Maura Lane, called the Witte Witch of Rye and left Hove Crown Court today
Lane admitted intimidation and criminal damage after breaking in Mr Douglas's house and destroying a glass door and greenhouse
Lane is said to have beaten the older store manager before he engaged Mr Douglas
Things came to a peak at Coronation Day last May, after Lane Portrait of King Charles III and Union Jack Bunting saw in Mr Douglas's shop.
It is said that she has beaten the older store manager before she turns on Mr Douglas, hits his greenhouse and pushes him out of his house.
When his family arrived to help, Lane would have hit Mr. Wilson-Patterson and have thrown hot tea over his wife. She then hit a glass panel on the front door of Mr Douglas.
Jonathan Atkinson, persecution to Hove Crown Court said: “Mr Douglas locked himself in his bedroom and then from his bathroom for fear.”
The court heard that she bombed him with E -mails and SMS messages in the aftermath of the incident in breaching its guarantee conditions.
She was accused of seven violations, including stalking, criminal damage and abuse of Mr Douglas and his family.
But on the first day of her trial in May, Lane argued guilty of intimidation without violence and criminal damage.
Later she tried to have her guilty pleadings leave and said she had received bad advice from her lawyer. Her offer failed.
His cousin Paul Wilson-Patterson and his wife Anna said: 'We are very relieved that this bizarre episode is behind us. It has left my uncle shattered and left.
Worried about his elderly uncle, Paul Wilson-Patterson and his wife Anna started a diary of the frequent violent eruptions
Lane is said to have lied to the locals about his caregiver – falsely suggest that the academic was suffering from dementia
'Barbara Maura Lane was treated with great kindness and generosity; She responded with malignant and violent behavior.
“Her mean cruelty for our family friends has caused a lot of sorrow. Have resulted in her drunk anger in criminal damage to the ownership of our uncle, which took many months to repair and replace.
'Then she brought her bail agreement and she continued to bother family members for several months by telephone, e -mail, mail and social media. Everyone who leaves this person in his life is in danger. '
In addition to a four -month punishment, the order to participate in 20 rehabilitation days and to wear unpaid work for 150 hours.
She also received a street ban that forbade her to contact Mr Douglas for five years.
Wilson-Patterson and his wife Anna said that Lane was a “dangerous individual” who lived a “delusions” but always played “the victim”.
