World's worst hoarder ordered to clean rat-infested yard
A woman whose yard has become a rat-infested pile of junk has been ordered by her local council to clean up the mess following an outcry from neighbours.
Sharon Cochrane's property has become a hoarder's paradise in just two short years, with broken furniture, household appliances and bags of rubbish stacked to the eaves.
The property, located in the UK at Hunstanton, Norfolk, has become a source of anger for neighbours dealing with the impact the rubbish pile is bringing to their street.
'I appreciate there are laws and regulations but some people seem to live above them,' neighbour Tammy Edmunds told The Sun.
'The street has been suffering with this on and off for ten years and in the last five weeks its gotten worse.
'It's a fire hazard and risk of health and safety.
'We've heard of rats from there spreading across to other properties which has meant pest control have had to come out.'
A supermarket trolley full of groceries had also been left in the yard and a damaged car is parked on the street as well.
Ms Cochrane, 66, says people should mind their own business.
'The world is going to hell in a handbasket and people care so much about my furniture on my own drive,' she said.
'I don't understand why people are so concerned.'
Despite Ms Cochrane's protests, the local council has agreed 'direct action' can be taken if necessary.
A spokesman for the council said: 'The council is working with the owner to manage her property.
'Officers recognise that she has made an effort to clear the exterior and they will continue to support her to do this.
'However, they also have the council's authority to take direct action, which means that if it becomes necessary a clear-up can be undertaken, for which she will be liable.'
West Norfolk Council has served an enforcement notice ordering Ms Cochrane to clear up the mess.
If the council is forced to step in and clear out the mess on its own, Ms Cochrane will be liable for the cost and could lose her AUD $520,000 property help pay.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Calls for schools to identify DV
3h ago 3 hours ago Fri 6 Jun 2025 at 2:00am Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Play Duration: 3 minutes 42 seconds 3 m 42 s
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Global superstar Cynthia Erivo on what to expect from Wicked: For Good and her new album
Oscar-nominated actress and singer Cynthia Erivo says recording her new album last year provided her with "a sanctuary" amid her rise to global super-stardom. Erivo, who was nominated this year for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Elphaba in the smash-hit musical movie Wicked, has just released her sophomore solo album, I Forgive You. She told ABC News Breakfast that the writing process for the album took place during the production of Wicked. "I really got down to it as we were filming," she said. "Then I was really in the middle of making it when we were on the press tour. So, it took a lot." Erivo says recording the album proved to be a cathartic experience for her as Wicked propelled her to international fame. "It was a sanctuary for me," she said. "It was really lovely to almost re-centre every time I went into the studio, to find little pieces of myself in the music and express pieces of myself, and just even to get back to writing again was just lovely. "I keep using the word 'freeing', because it was such a lovely way to explore what I could do with my voice and what I could do with music and it's been such a lovely affirming process to be a part of." The highly anticipated trailer for the sequel to Wicked, titled Wicked: For Good, was released earlier this week. Erivo says she's excited for fans to see part two, which is due out later this year. "These two women are now grown up. They're now having to deal with some of the decisions that they've made in the first movie, and it's not easy for either of them. "You have to follow each of their stories and they have to find their way back to each other. "I feel like this part is quite special because they have to be independent in their ideas, they have to be independent in the decisions they make from now on, and you get to see them both, I think, in their power." Erivo told News Breakfast host Bridget Brennan that tea is one of the ways she cares for her voice. "We joke about it but tea is always really helpful. "A type of mug has always been with me. Lots of hydrating, trying to get as much rest as you possibly can, which is not always possible, but if you offset it with how much you hydrate it should be fine. "I warm up before every kind of vocal anything, because it sort of makes sure that my vocal cords aren't shocked when I start singing, but just trying to take it easy. "Sometimes it's time to be quiet, sometimes it's time to talk." Erivo hopes her new album will allow fans to see her more vulnerable side. "I don't think I'll ever stop being a work-in-progress. "I think I'm always going to be growing, I think I'm always going to be learning about things. "I think I'm always going to look back at certain things and be a little bit mad at myself, or then have to let go of things, and I think that being able to talk about it really frankly and openly was just, like, helpful, just to hear it out loud." Cynthia Erivo's new album, I Forgive You, was released on Friday.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Meghan releases rare photo of Lilibet for her birthday
COMMENT I'd put money on it now: On June 4, 2039 Princess Lilibet will turn 18-years-old and it will trigger a media-free-for-all of comparing, contrasting and juxtaposing she and Princess Charlotte. They are Diana, Princess of Wales' granddaughters and they seem cursed, no warty witch required, to be perpetually pitched against one another even though their lives bear no resemblance. One girl's is of the highest calibre, full-focus exposure and a Getty archive of 22,606 shots of her. (Really.) The other's face has not been seen in public since she was a baby. Charlotte is the only fifth grader in the world used to making small talk with the Archbishop of Canterbury during a live global TV broadcast and is already a dab hand at the regal Buckingham Palace wave; Lili's face has been on view since Queen Elizabeth was still firmly planted on the throne. Until now. Wednesday marked not only Lili's fourth birthday but her mother Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex pulling a surprising social media swerve by sharing a front facing photo of the tiny princess looking at the camera, showing more of her face than has been seen in years. Since 2022, Meghan and Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex have followed a tried and tested celeb-y protocol and only released photos of their kids taken from the back, in profile or with something obscuring their faces. It seemed like a nice midline: Their little ones' privacy was maintained while public interest was moderately sated. However, since joining Instagram this year and with this new Lili image, a beautiful black and white shot showing her being embraced by a perfectly windswept, stunning duchess on a boat, Meghan appears to be inching closer and closer to backflipping on this one. Is the Sussex status quo no longer a-go-go? Protection and privacy have been the firmly entrenched watchwords of Harry and Meghan's approach with them clearly choosing to not put them on display. Only last month, to mark Prince Archie's sixth birthday, Meghan marked the day by posting a single photo of the pyjama-clad primary schooler that was devoid of anything like detail. Or on May 19, to celebrate the Sussexes' seventh wedding anniversary, she shared an image of a collage of touching family photos including some showing the kids' faces but which were so weeny and small it was nearly impossible to discern any real detail or see what they actually look like. Clever. And yet now we have this Lili shot, her facing the camera, with the top half of her face clearly visible. What is all a bit inexplicable is why, in under a month, the swing from that to this higher degree of exposure? Is this simply a one-off or are she and Archie being slowly revealed to the world like the latest model iPhone? This Lili birthday snap clearly raises more questions than it answers, least importantly, how much time are Harry and Meghan spending at sea? (To mark International Women's Day Meghan went the obvious route and shared a shot of Harry tenderly kissing his daughter on some sort of speedboat.) More significantly, it highlights a split in the duke and duchess' attitudes towards social media. In late April the couple were in New York where they launched an Archwell-backed memorial remembering the children and teens lost to social media harms, a cause they have been involved with for years. Harry made his feelings abundantly clear: 'Keep your kids away from social media..... Life is better off of social media'. The Duke of Sussex also comes to the question of shielding his children with other complicating factors. He has made abundantly clear the trauma that constant media exposure during his childhood did to this tender, young psyche. Also, in August 2024, a friend of the Sussexes told Peopl e that ​​'Harry has been reluctant to show his children publicly, not out of a desire to hide them but to protect their privacy and safety from potential threats'. Given all of this, what might Aitch, whose genuine joy and delight in fatherhood is a balm for his often publicly vinegary persona these days, make of a half of his daughter's face being broadcast to two billion people on Instagram? There are other details about Lili's birthday posts that have not been explained either. Archie got one birthday shot; for Lili Meghan has put out three posts including four stills plus a bizarre video of her and Harry twerking in the hospital ahead of her delivery, and all of it shared across nine hours, based on timestamps. The main portrait (and another showing Lili with Meghan seemingly just after her birth) appears to have gone live at midnight California-time. However a second post, one photo showing Harry with a newborn Lili and another of them barefoot, was shared at 7.40am followed by the awkward video at about 9.00am, according to online conversion tools. The best answer I can come up with is that, swept away on a tide of maternal love and a sugar high thanks to a before school-run slice of cake, the Duchess of Sussex couldn't help but keep posting adorable images. That or she was bored waiting for an Uber. So are all these glimpses and peaks building towards something? Or are they as far as Meghan will go? What the last few months have shown is that any and all photos of her children popping up on Insta are guaranteed to generate buzz and interest, handy if you're in the midst of a relaunch as a home-y, lifestyle doyenne. Here's a dose of pathos to close things out. Both Meghan and Charlotte's mother Kate, The Princess of Wales, have inherited bits and bobs of Diana's jewellery but in having daughters, they got something the late princess dreamt of. 'Diana always wanted a girl,' her longtime private secretary Patrick Jephson said in 2015. 'Both my daughters were born when I was working with Princess Diana, and she more than once said how lucky I was to have girls'.
