Rap fan banned from owning stereo

Music so loud it moved neighbor's furniture

LONDON, England -- A British woman has been banned from owning a stereo or a television after playing music so loud that furniture in neighboring flats was moved by the vibrations.

Birmingham City Council welcomed the two-year Anti-Social Behavior Order (ASBO) against 33-year-old rap and karaoke fan Sharon McLoughlin, who is also being evicted from her flat.

The council tenant became the English midlands' city's first person to lose her home and to be made subject to an ASBO for playing loud music after a judge at Birmingham County Court agreed to serve the order on her Monday, the UK's Press Association reported.

District Judge Alistair MacDuff QC granted the city council possession of the property within 14 days and prohibited mother-of-three McLoughlin from owning any electronic music equipment or television while she resides at the flat.

She was also banned from causing harassment, alarm or distress anywhere in England and Wales for two years.

Eminem fan McLoughlin, of Stechford, Birmingham, had been handed an interim ASBO on June 30, prohibiting her from generating excessive noise.

McLoughlin had also been served with a Noise Abatement Notice, leading to the seizure of audio equipment, including a karaoke machine, on three separate occasions.

The court heard that the music was so loud that it vibrated the floors of the flat above, moving furniture.

On one occasion, while speaking to witnesses in the property most affected, an officer from the Birmingham Anti-Social Behavior Unit (BASBU) could hardly hear what the residents were saying even though she was only around 6ft away from them, PA reported.

BASBU Manager Ian McGibbon told the UK news agency: "This is an excellent example of officers from different council departments working together to solve a problem effectively.

"Even though environmental health officers had seized equipment from the property, McLoughlin showed absolutely no regard for her neighbors or the law and obtained more equipment.

"Now, she is banned from owning equipment while she remains at Donnington House and causing a nuisance wherever she goes and if she breaches this she faces arrest."

John Lines, the City Council's Cabinet Member for Housing, added: "We are pleased that the courts have dealt with this matter decisively, as this woman has shown complete disregard for previous actions by environmental health officers and BASBU officers who attempted to modify her behavior."