Abusive troublemaker complains town ban campaign making his life 'difficult'

has “made his life difficult” has sparked outrage among local business owners.New MiltonA CLAIM by a serial troublemaker that a campaign to ban him from

The traders were leading the fight to have David Channell (52) moved from the area after he caused over 18 months of “absolute hell” to local residents, café and shop owners.

The allegation was made at Poole Magistrates’ Court this week where Channell pleaded guilty to six charges of using threatening and abusive behaviour. He had already admitted one charge of the same offence at an earlier hearing at Southampton Magistrates’ Court.

On Tuesday this week he pleaded guilty to threatening a railway worker after she asked him to step back from the edge of the platform at Bournemouth station on 17th December last year.

Prosecutor Kingsleigh Viollet said David Channell unleashed a stream of foul-mouthed abuse at Sabrina Dash before saying he was going to throw her onto the railway tracks. He also spat at her. The magistrates heard she was left “in fear for her safety”.

Channell, of Ramsey Court, Drake Close, also admitted abusive and threatening behaviour against two men and a woman in New Milton on 7th July this year and two charges of the same offence a month earlier.

At his latest court appearance Channell’s defence solicitor Megan McGhee claimed that the campaign to have him banned from New Milton had thwarted her client’s attempts to sort his life out.

Telling magistrates that Channell had committed the offences when drunk, she added: “He is someone who has recently been given accommodation in New Milton the area where most of the offences have taken place.

“A campaign to have him banned from the town has put him in a very difficult position.

“Local shop owners and businesses also want to get him banned. He now feels he will have to seek alternative accommodation.”

Ms McGhee said the campaign against Channell, which the A&T reported on 6th September, had meant he could not carry out attempts to “start afresh”.

As the A&T revealed earlier in the year, 30 traders in the town have signed a petition calling for the police and district council to take action against a group, including Channell, from whom they have had to suffer continuous drunkenness, abuse and threatening behaviour.

One of Channell’s victims, Annette Hunter, who owns New Miltan tanning salon in the town, said she thought Ms McGhee’s comments were “outrageous” saying: “I understand that people are entitled to a defence but I would like to see how his solicitor would feel if she had to suffer the kind of behaviour he has been inflicting on me and other people in this town.

“There was a 78-year-old lady who was too frightened to testify against him. This has been going on for 17 months now and people are fed up with it.

“He is his own worst enemy, he has been offered help and given a new home but he just carried on getting drunk then abusing and threatening people.”

Ms Hunter said people had come into her salon to thank her for calling for Channell to be banned in an A&T front-page story.

She added: “I spoke out to make the public aware of what David can be like and what he has done to a lot of people, many of whom are too frightened to say anything to him.

“The fact that he has not been around because he is in custody has made me feel I don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder. The whole town has felt calmer and more peaceful with him not here.”

A café owner from the town, who did not want to be named, was one of those who signed the petition. She said: “To say we have made his life ‘difficult’ is absolutely stupid. He has made our lives hell!

“It’s not our fault that he acts the way he does, terrorising people, urinating in the street and shouting abuse.

“If he behaved and became a responsible citizen he would be welcome in New Milton but I’m afraid that he has shown, time and time again, that he can’t be – and we have had enough.”

On Tuesday as Channell was led into the dock by a prison warder who stood by the court door. Another two warders stood either side of him.

He had intended to plead not guilty to the offences before being shown CCTV of the incident which clearly showed his involvement, and then changed his plea.

Prosecutor Mr Viollett told how Channell threatened Ms Dash at Bournemouth station after she politely asked him to move.

The defendant had also been abusive towards a police officer who arrested him.

At the time of the incident Channell was already on bail for using threatening behaviour towards Ms Hunter.

He had become abusive towards her after she went to his aid when he fell off a bench drunk outside her salon in Station Road on December 6th last year.

Channell launched into a tirade of abuse before throwing a pair of scissors at her.

He was found guilty in his absence when the trial went ahead at Southampton Magistrates’ Court in September. A warrant for his arrest was issued and Channell was later found, tagged and given a restraining order not to go near Ms Hunter and her salon.

But he broke his bail conditions by ignoring the curfew and going to Brockenhurst on 16th September. He was arrested and remanded in custody.

At Poole Magistrates’ Court this week he also admitted two charges of using threatening and abusive behaviour, one towards Robina Harper, on 24th June 2019 in New Milton.

On 5th July this year he also used threatening behaviour towards Clifford Harris, who owns the computer shop JPC Tech in the town. The same day he abused Mark Bridle and Raymond Tomkins. All the offences took part in New Milton.

Channell’s solicitor Ms McGhee told the court all the offences were in the “context of Mr Channell being intoxicated.”

Ms McGhee said the defendant was on medication to help him cope with the effects of coming off alcohol and help him to sleep. She said he was also autistic.

Channell was remanded in custody for the same reasons as set by Southampton magistrates which were that he was likely to abscond if given bail.

He will appear for sentencing at Poole Magistrates’ Court on 11th October.