'Crazy chicken lady' taken to court by council for 'torturing' her neighbours

Jess Marson, 33, keeps the animals at a smallholding as "her babies" but the council has received noise complaints since around 2019. One woman wrote online: "We don't have cockerels for this very reason it's absolute torture."

A witness statement from one resident near Clayton West, West Yorkshire, says: "The noise from the crowing cockerels has affected and continues to affect our daily life.

"This is not just a single bird crowing occasionally, with multiple birds being kept.

"Typically, once one starts other birds join in with almost continual crowing either simultaneously or consecutively.

Jess, who describes herself as a "crazy chicken lady", is now prepared to go to court next month as she's allegedly failed to adhere to a noise abatement order, issued by Kirklees Council.

The HGV driver told Yorkshire Live: "I love these cockerels. I don't have children so these animals are like my 'babies'.

"Obviously, it is not nice when you are being woken up but this is a semi-rural area and I rent the land from a local farmer.

"The council wants me to put them in a dark box but I think that is cruel."

In a GoFundMe page, Jess says her cockerels, geese, goats and pig help her manage her anxiety.

She's hoping any money raised will help with legal costs in her battle.

And Kirklees Council, which Labour lost to no overall control in 2020, says it does intend to press ahead with its prosecution.

Councillor Will Simpson, Cabinet Member for Culture and Greener Kirklees said: "Kirklees Council's Environmental Health Team will be attending Kirklees Magistrates' Court in March with regards to breaches of a Noise Abatement Notice relating to cockerels.

"It is fairly rare for Environmental Health to prosecute for noise from cockerels with prosecution always seen as the last course of action where informal measures and negotiations have failed."

Magistrates are set to hear the case on March 13.