Court hears of pensioners’ turf war.

Dispute over strip of ground sparked fight between two pensioners

A householder has lost a legal battle to ban her neighbour from a strip of land at the centre of a boundary dispute which sparked a fight between two 75-year-old men. Perth Sheriff Court heard how the bespectacled, silver-haired neighbours were seen grappling with each other and had to be dragged apart by a passing rugby referee. One of the pensioners was described as being “like a puma” and a “trained cage fighter” by his rival, who suffered a suspected broken nose in the brawl. The wife and daughter of David Poole have gone to court to seek an interdict banning neighbour Terence Doyle from entering a small strip of land between their luxury rural villas. Julie Poole and Jennifer Morris raised the action at Perth Sheriff Court and claimed Mr Doyle had moved a boundary fence, placed a pole in the driveway and painted a yellow boundary line. “He indulged in a course of conduct of moving the boundaries and taking possession of her land, causing damage to her driveway and using weedkiller,” their lawyer told the court. “He had taken a jackhammer and drilled up a large section of the driveway.” In his defence, Mr Doyle told the court the Pooles had built a driveway on a piece of land between 44 and 46 Gamekeeper’s Road, Kinnesswood, near Kinross that they did not own. Mrs Poole and her daughter asked a sheriff to declare the Keepers of the Registers of Scotland had “erred” in the way the property boundaries had been drawn. However, Sheriff Richard McFarlane rejected the claim for an interim interdict preventing Mr Doyle from entering the disputed strip of land. He criticised the land registry for a lack of clarity but said: “There’s clear competition between the parties as to where their boundaries lie. I’m not persuaded the balance favours the pursuer.” In 2014 at the same court, a sheriff told the then 75-year-olds to act their age after hearing a trial detailing their unseemly garden brawl.

I have had occasion to see street fighting or cage fighting on TV... and I had that experience on that day

Mr Doyle, 74, was left with a suspected broken nose and claimed he had been set upon by his older rival David Poole, who was described as being like “a trained cage fighter”. Sheriff Fiona Tait berated the quality of evidence given by both retired businessmen during the trial and condemned them for fighting at a combined age of 150. She told Mr Poole: “It is perfectly clear neither you nor Mr Doyle behaved in a manner fitting for your age.” Mr Doyle said he had to “fight for his life” as his rampaging rival wrestled him to the ground. He said: “I have had occasion to see street fighting or cage fighting on TV when I’ve been turning channels and I had that experience on that day. “He got me with a very sneaky, cunning, left hook to the side of my face. It burst my nose, burst my eye and split my cheek bone. He was frothing at the mouth. “I was thumped on to the ground on my back. His knees came onto my chest and I was pinned down. I did a quick log roll, which unbalanced him, and he fell. “He trapped me with his legs as hard as he could. He sat up and tried to bite my knuckles. I was about to get his boot in my face.” Mr Doyle said workman and part-time rugby referee David O’Donnell, 27, came rushing over and told the grappling pensioners: “This is going to stop now.” Sheriff Tait said a fight was already under way when witnesses arrived and it was impossible to establish how it started, so she cleared Mr Poole of assault. Mr Doyle had not been facing any charge.

David Poole, left, and Terence Doyle.