V FOR VITRIOL!
Sculptor’s two-fingered salute to neighbours lands him in court
AS A sculptor, Baron Tremain often expresses himself artistically.
And what he placed in his garden – in full view of his neighbours – left them in no doubt about his feelings.
Bolted to the top of a tall pole was a metal fist waving a two-fingered salute at Lisa and Jason Woodcock, with whom Mr Tremain had a long-running dispute.
It was taken down after a few weeks but not before the couple complained to police, leading to Mr Tremain, 54, being charged with harassment. He denied the offence and it was dismissed by magistrates this week after he agreed to a restraining order, banning him from having any contact with the couple.
Mrs Woodcock, 42, said: ‘I just feel distressed and anxious nearly all the time. I’ve lost nearly two stone.’
The farm secretary added: ‘We’ve lived here for three years. This was our dream house and it was for 18 months.
‘All I want, all we want, is to be left alone. If this restraining order works, it will be fantastic.’
Mr Tremain said he was unable to comment because of the restraining order but insisted the giant V-sign was ‘quite hilarious’ and had been on display ‘not that long’.
The feud in the quiet hamlet of Alby Hill, near Cromer in Norfolk, began in 2017, according to Mrs Woodcock, when Mr Tremain complained about a sewage treatment plant at her modern detached house. The property doesn’t have mains drainage. She said the Environment Agency inspected the plant and found no problems.
Mr Woodcock, an accountant, then wrote a letter of objection when Mr Tremain applied for retrospective planning permission in respect of an outbuilding on his land described by North Norfolk Council as a blacksmith’s workshop. The application was refused in January last year but consent was given five months later after plans for landscaping to mask the building were submitted. Mother- of-two Mrs Woodcock said the sculpture was put on display at different times of day but disappeared after Mr Tremain was granted planning permission. The couple then got a civil injunction against Mr Tremain at Norwich County Court requiring him to stay away from them. She said: ‘He was shouting over the garden and swearing at us in front of the children and shining a torch through our windows. Our daughter is scared to go into the garden now.’ In court on Thursday, presiding magistrate Paul Frary told Mr Tremain not to contact his neighbours, except through a solicitor, and warned: ‘If you breach the order you could go to prison.’
‘All we want is to be left alone’