Skip to content 
Anne-Marie Hughes has been accused by three people of harassment and stalking after a joke about benefits was made in a pub in Brighton Marina.
The 47-year-old denies two charges of harassment without fear, alarm or distress and one charge of stalking.
Stuart Allen, prosecuting the case, told Brighton Magistrates Court that there are three complainants who have accused Hughes.
The court heard from Elizabeth Chadsey, a former neighbour, that Hughes is accused of stalking between May 5 and June 23, 2025.
Ms Chadsey told the court she is originally from Canada and that she met Hughes when they lived next door to each other in Brighton Marina.
She Hughes seems friendly at first and she introduced her people to live in the community, especially in the Master Mariner pub.
Ms Chadsey said she had decided not to continue the friendly relationship but to remain friendly. She said that Hughes would continue to invite her to socialize outside the marina, but that she would find excuses not to attend.
Ms Chadsey said she was in the pub on 30 April 2025 with the defendant and others, including Samuel James, the pub manager. She said Mr. James joked about not being able to get a doctor’s appointment because he had a job and wasn’t sitting on benefits all day.
Ms Chadsey said: “The defendant at the time didn’t seem that upset.”
She said it quickly became clear that Hughes took offense to the joke.
Ms Chadsey said that the next day, while she was at work, Hughes sent her messages asking for her support against the joke. Ms. Chadsey said that, respectfully, she did not want to participate, but that if she felt offended, that would be fine, but that Ms. Chadsey was working and could not be involved.
She said Hughes began calling and leaving voicemails, and that some of her messages mentioned that her ex-boyfriend had cheated on her.
Ms. Chadsey said she blocked Hughes and ended up having to delete her voicemail completely because Hughes was still leaving messages there.
Mrs Chadsey said: “I became aware of threats she made to me through Samuel.”
Ms Chadsey said Hughes threatened to evict her, have her deported and accused her of smuggling drugs into the country. She also said Hughes claimed Ms Chadsey had an eating disorder and would harm herself.
She said Hughes believed Ms. Chadsey had a cat, which she was not allowed to have under her lease. Ms Chadsey said she had made some pets for a friend, but this was not a permanent arrangement.
Ms. Chadsey added: “When I first met her, as an anecdote I shared that when I first came here, I accidentally brought a cannabis vape, which is legal in Canada.
“She said she was going to report me to the police for drug smuggling to get me deported.”
Ms Chadsey said she disposed of the vape.
Ms Chadsey went on to say that Hughes had messaged a member of a local gang, believing Ms Chadsey was in a relationship with one of the members, to accuse her of cheating on him.
Mr Alastair Douglas, defending Hughes, now of Hove, asked Ms Chadsey about some of her responses to Hughes’ messages.
He pointed to several where Hughes asked Ms Chadsey to stop contacting her.
Ms Chadsey agreed that Hughes routinely said this in the messages, but that Hughes would then continue to send messages.
Mr Douglas pointed to examples of messages which called Hughes a “tragic, lonely old woman” or “delusional”.
Ms Chadsey admitted to getting frustrated and being “only human”.
He also accused Ms Chadsey and the other defendants of calling Hughes a “baby reindeer”. This is in reference to the Baby Reindeer TV program which centers on stalking issues.
Ms Chadsey said: “I believe I’ve seen a lot of people use that nickname.”
Mr Douglas said that at several points Hughes tried to distance himself from Ms Chadsey, which the complainant disagreed with.
He said she would also purposefully respond to WhatsApp messages with smiley emojis and then share them to get a reaction from Hughes.
Hughes denies the allegations. The process continues.
