A defiant 77-year-old woman is refusing to vacate her £420,000 home in Dorset, ignoring a judge's deadline to pay a neighbour a staggering £113,000 legal bill stemming from a bitter five-year boundary row.
A Dispute Over a Single Foot of Land
Jenny Field, a divorcee, purchased her three-bedroom bungalow in the quiet Hamworthy suburb of Poole in 2016. Her neighbour, Pauline Clark, 64, had bought the adjacent property a year earlier. The protracted conflict began in June 2020 when Mrs Clark replaced the wooden fence separating their properties.
Ms Field claimed the new fence was positioned one foot closer to her bungalow, encroaching on her land. Two months later, she hired contractors to dismantle and reposition the six-foot fence to reclaim what she believed was rightfully hers. This act ignited a legal battle that would spiral for years and through the courts.
Court Rulings and Soaring Costs
The matter culminated in a civil court case, which Ms Field lost earlier this year. Initially, her legal fees were under £14,000. However, by repeatedly challenging the rulings, her total bill skyrocketed to £113,266. In September, a judge at Bournemouth County Court ordered Ms Field to sell her detached bungalow to cover the debt owed to Mrs Clark.
Judge Fentem dismissed Ms Field's subsequent claims of 'sham litigation' and trespass as 'totally without merit'. Ms Field failed to attend that crucial hearing, and the order was made in her absence.
Defiance and the Threat of Bailiffs
Ms Field was given until 4pm last Friday to either pay the sum or vacate her property, allowing it to be sold. She has done neither, vowing to 'sit tight' in her home. She now lives in constant fear of county court bailiffs arriving at her door.
'I'm not moving. This is my home and I have paid for it,' Ms Field stated. 'I have got human rights... I haven't done anything wrong. All I have done is taken her fence off my land.' She is refusing to answer the door to unrecognised callers, monitoring visitors through her Ring doorbell camera.
Meanwhile, Mrs Clark, who describes the last six years as 'living a nightmare', said her solicitors are preparing to ask the courts to send in bailiffs, a process that could take weeks. 'She's ignored so many court orders,' Mrs Clark said. 'I'm worried they will never get her out.'
In a last-ditch effort, Ms Field has made an 11th-hour application to have the previous ruling set aside and has complained to the judiciary about the handling of her case. She awaits a response, remaining barricaded in her home overlooking the quiet cul-de-sac, as the long-running neighbourhood dispute enters its most critical and confrontational phase.
