A couple are facing legal bills of about £150,000 after losing the latest stage of a bitter 14-year dispute with their neighbours over the position of a garden fence.
Philip New, 52, and his wife Denise, 47, have been involved in the long-running row with neighbours Steve and Karen Gibson since 2012, when Mr New replaced fence panels between the two semi-detached homes in Thundersley, Essex.
The Gibsons argued the replacement fence had been built in the wrong position and was not in a straight line. In an attempt to resolve the disagreement, both couples agreed in 2015 to appoint an independent surveyor to determine the boundary. However, the dispute did not end there.
Court battle and ruling
Mr and Mrs New disagreed with the surveyor's findings and obtained a second opinion from another expert before the row escalated into a court battle when the Gibsons launched legal action in 2018. The Gibsons were successful in 2021, when the court ruled that the boundary identified by the first surveyor should be followed.
The case later returned to court to decide how much compensation should be paid after it was found the fence had trespassed onto the Gibsons' land.
During those proceedings, the court heard the disagreement had gone far beyond the position of the fence. Mr Gibson said the dispute had caused years of distress and meant he and his wife no longer used their garden as they once had. He told the court he had "lost his heart and soul" and said both he and his wife had been reduced to tears because of the conflict.
Further incidents
The court also heard that shortly after an earlier appeal was dismissed, Mr New removed an ornamental squirrel mounted on a wooden post between the two properties. According to the judgment, the squirrel had been bought as a gift for Mrs Gibson and her parents during the 1980s, while the wooden post had later been built by Mr Gibson's parents-in-law, giving it significant sentimental value.
Mr New said he removed it because he believed it was dangerous, but the judge rejected that explanation.
The court also considered two songs Mr New had uploaded to YouTube and Facebook. One, titled Neighbours, included offensive lyrics about dealing with bad neighbours, while another, Magic Garden, appeared to refer to someone using walking sticks before suggesting they were pretending to have a disability.
The judge concluded the songs were about the Gibsons and found they were offensive and defamatory. He accepted they had caused further upset and embarrassment, particularly because Mr Gibson has a rare bone condition.
Appeal dismissed
In an earlier ruling, Judge Robert Duddridge described the case as a "wretched" dispute that had "consumed" the neighbours' lives and become "unusually disproportionate, difficult and frustrating".
Mr and Mrs New later appealed after they were ordered to pay £13,305 in damages and interest, arguing the award should be reduced enough to overturn the substantial legal costs they were also facing. However, Mr Justice Thompsell ruled that although the damages should be reduced by £700, the change was too small to alter the overall outcome of the case.
He said the appeal had been brought in an attempt to reduce the damages sufficiently to avoid paying the Gibsons' legal costs, but ruled they had still won the case "in substance and reality".
The decision leaves Mr and Mrs New facing about £12,600 in damages, nearly £19,000 towards the Gibsons' legal costs for the High Court appeal, as well as county court legal costs estimated at around £120,000, leaving them with a total bill of about £150,000.
