She screamed death threats through a doorbell camera, trashed communal spaces, and left a young couple fearing for their lives. But for more than a year, Wandsworth Council and the authorities failed to act.
Now, after a campaign of abuse spanning nearly two years, 52-year-old Drina Gray has been jailed for three years and four months. Yet the sentence, handed down at Kingston upon Thames Crown Court this week, also casts a harsh spotlight on the system that allowed her to keep terrorising her neighbours long after the alarm was raised.
Ben and Emma, a couple in their early 30s, bought their first home in a Wandsworth council block in 2022. But when Gray—already known to police—moved into the flat below in April 2023, their lives were turned upside down.
It started when Ben reported her for kicking her dog, which he captured on CCTV. What followed was a barrage of threats, criminal damage, intimidation, and sleepless nights. She repeatedly smashed their Ring doorbell cameras, shouted abuse through their front door, and made chilling threats like: “Watch your back, that’s a warning” and “I can get you [expletive] killed.” On one occasion, she warned: “We need a nice fire, don’t we?”
Gray also took her dog to defecate outside their front door and routinely vacuumed the shared hallway in the middle of the night. Ben, then working at a tech startup, lost his job due to sleep deprivation. Eventually, the stress, fear, and exhaustion left him medicated for anxiety and depression.
“I feel broken—mentally, physically, emotionally,” Ben told the court in a harrowing victim statement. “My home, my health, my job, and my peace of mind have all been taken away.”
System failure
Ben said he had recorded 140 separate incidents of harassment and called the police multiple times—including once when Gray allegedly threatened to shoot him. It took police 13 hours to respond. Court hearings were repeatedly delayed, with Gray absconding from court at one stage. Despite a restraining order and a Community Protection Notice, she breached both.
Ben and Emma say they were failed again and again—not just by the police and the courts, but by Wandsworth Council, which owns the property Gray lived in.
“Every system that should have protected us let us down,” Ben told magistrates earlier this month. “Every adjournment was just another number for them. But for us, it was night after night of fear.”
Gray, who has 18 previous convictions for 40 offences, pleaded guilty to harassment with intent to cause fear of violence, two counts of criminal damage, and using threatening words and behaviour. The judge said alcohol misuse was an aggravating factor—not an excuse.
“You ignored court and council orders,” said Judge Peter Lodder KC. “You were given many warnings. You chose to ignore them. You induced panic attacks and sleep deprivation. I can wholly understand why [Ben] became suicidal.”
Council finally acts
Wandsworth Council confirmed that it had finally obtained an injunction preventing Gray’s return and is pursuing possession of the flat. But the authority admitted it should have acted sooner.
“We accept that we could have acted more swiftly,” said Cllr Aydin Dikerdem, cabinet member for housing. “Following this case, changes are being made to our anti-social behaviour case management system to ensure actions are taken more promptly and that complainants are kept updated.”
The failure of the council to act even in the most extreme situations is, unfortunately, nothing new. Last week, we reported on widespread failings across Wandsworth’s housing and complaints system—from untreated mould to delayed safeguarding action—highlighting a wider culture of inaction and missed warnings.
Ben and Emma say that while justice has finally been done, it came far too late.
“It’s been a long and drawn-out battle,” Ben said, speaking outside court. “But finally, we can relax—for the first time in two years.”
