A woman threatened to burn her neighbour’s house down and swung a baseball bat at her after a row broke out over a parking dispute.

Hayley Rowe got into an argument with her neighbour Lynette Harris at their homes in Pimpernel Way, Chatham, after the pair had previously disagreed about the issue.

Medway Magistrates’ Court heard Rowe started shouting and screaming at Ms Harris on April 4 after the pair began discussions to try and resolve a problem with parking.

But Rowe lost her temper and started screaming that she would burn her house down with her and her parents inside.

She also picked up a baseball bat and started swinging it about and then violently hit it against a wall while threatening to kill Ms Harris, shouting at her: “Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough.”

The incident caused Ms Harris and her parents so much distress they asked firefighters from Kent Fire and Rescue Service to come and fit smoke alarms and a letterbox fire protector on their front door.

The matter was also reported to police and 49-year-old Rowe was later arrested and charged with threatening behaviour over the matter.

She appeared before Medway Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday where she admitted the offence and a string of others she’d committed back in February when she claimed she’d been out on a date.

But Rowe had claimed she was forced to flee the romantic tryst because she felt unsafe.

She later went on to abuse several people – and even assaulted one woman – while asking for help to get home.

The court heard Rowe had been outside the Bubbles Laundrette in East Street, Sittingbourne during the early hours of February 25 when she was seen shouting through the windows to be let in.

However, it was about 1.30am in the morning and the business was closed so she turned her attention to a man who she spotted in his car.

Rowe went over to his car and snapped his windscreen wiper and then kicked his car causing about £100 of damage. She leaves the area and the matter is reported to police.

Later the same morning, at about 5am, Rowe arrives at McDonalds in Sittingbourne, which is also closed, but staff notice her outside acting in a strange way and let her in to see what is wrong with her.

But when she gets inside she starts abusing staff.

She goes up to one worker, a woman and shouts right in her face and grabs at her and calls her a f****** **** and then tells her that she’s going to get her boyfriend to come and kill all the staff.

And Rowe’s antics didn't stop there. She also went to the Asda store in the town the same morning and began to harass members of staff who she kept asking cigarettes from and made threats to them and intimidated them by shouting in their faces when she didn't get what she wanted.

Rowe, of Pimpernel Way, Chatham, was charged with two counts of threatening behaviour, assault and criminal damage in relation to the incidents that happened in Sittingbourne in February, as well as the threatening behaviour charge in relation to her neighbour in April.

Rowe admitted all five offences when she appeared before magistrates in Medway on May 17.

Chelsea Clarke, prosecuting told the court Ms Harris was very distressed about what Rowe threatened to do to her and her parents home, but said that Rowe had not committed any other offences since 2016.”

Defending herself Rowe admitted she did all the things Ms Clarke said she did in February but had been frightened after going out on a date.

She said: “I begged the man to call the police. I was frightened, I had been out on a date and not one person helped me.

“And yes, the neighbour thing was awful, I did get a baseball bat but only after she (Ms Harris) said she would punch me in the face and burn my house down with my dog inside.”

Magistrates decided to adjourn sentencing to allow a pre-sentencing report to be carried out on Rowe and she will return to the same court to hear her fate on July 21. She was granted bail until then.