WOMAN BEAT NEIGHBOUR TO DEATH WITH A GARDEN SPADE
GIGI HADID BELLA HADID
A WOMAN’S ‘ visceral hatred’ of her untidy, hoarding nextdoor-neighbour led her to bludgeon her to death with a garden spade.
Debby Foxwell, 40, blamed the state of Louise Lotz’s mid-terraced home for her inability to sell her own home following years of bad feeling, a jury heard.
After the 64-year-old snatched her phone during a row in the back garden, Foxwell grabbed a spade from her garden shed.
She kicked opened the front door of Louise’s home and used the spade to smash a television and laptop.
Louise, who was calling the police, had been hiding but ran outside to another neighbour’s home shouting: “Help me, help me!”
St Albans Crown Court was told Foxwell followed and attacked her.
She then returned home, telling her partner: “It’s over. I have done it.”
Foxwell denies murdering Louise Lotz in Fordwich Road, Welwyn Garden City, on August 24 last year.
The jury have been told she has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.
Opening the case, prosecutor Alan Blake said: “It was a sustained, brutal and merciless attack.
“After a day of tension and disputes over the fence, this defendant went to her shed in her back garden and picked up a spade.
“She walked through her house, number 10, and kicked open the door of number 8 in a furious rage. She used a spade to smash electrical items in the lounge before pursuing her neighbour, who made a run for safety.
“Louise Lotz got to the front door of
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A fan said: “Since you ask, Gigi... then Bella... then Gigi again… up the arse.” number 6. Debby Foxwell caught her and repeatedly bludgeoned her with a spade, before causing catastrophic injuries to her head.”
Mr Blake said: “The sustained ferocity of the attack and the number of blows make it plain she intended to kill her and she succeeded in doing so.”
Foxwell was prosecuted for assault and criminal damage in 2016 against her neighbour.
Mr Blake said Foxwell’s “visceral hatred of Louise Lotz intensified”.
On one occasion, a security doorbell recorded Foxwell walking past and swinging her bag into Louise’s head as she tended plants in her front garden.
Louise Lotz’s lodger, Liam Graham, told the jury: “The house was a shambles. Louise was a bit of a
VICTIM: Louise Lotz had frequent bust-ups with her killer hoarder. The house was a mess. The rear garden was hardly tended to.”
He said Debby Foxwell’s garden was “perfect”.
On the evening of the killing, warehouse worker Mr Graham said he saw Foxwell turn the spade into something like a machete by turning it on its side and then hit Louise four or five times. Mostly, it hit her head.
“I was close enough to hear everything. I was screaming at her to stop,” he said.
“I tried to intervene once. She turned and said ‘You best stay out of the way if you know what’s good for you’.”
He said Foxwell walked off. She is alleged to have told her partner: “It’s over. I have done it.”
Case proceeding.