Neighbour must pay £20k after row about confiscated garden ball

A FATHER was sued by his neighbours after he trespassed on their property to reclaim his son’s confiscated football, a court heard.

Chaim Adler found his eight-year-old in tears when his neighbours in Golders Green, north London, did not return a ball he had kicked over the fence.

Mr Adler entered their garden, “snarling” at neighbour Warren Bergson, before returning the next day and trying to push his way into his flat while demanding the ball back “aggressively”, a court heard. Barrister Mr Bergson and his psychologist wife Dr Edel Mcandrew-bergson then sued, claiming trespass and harassment, with a judge awarding £19,800 damages.

At Mayors and City County Court, Judge Stephen Hellman said that Mr Adler, 35, had been provoked by the Bergsons’ actions but had gone too far. Mr Adler’s parents, Zavy, 73, and Esther Adler, 69, had lived in their home in Highfield Avenue, Golders Green, for 40 years, bringing up their children there. But tensions began between the families after Dr Mcandrew-bergson, 58, and her husband – who died after the trial in 2022 – moved to London and rented a one-bedroom garden flat next door. Following the trial, Judge Hellman ruled that Mr Adler had harassed the Bergsons and trespassed. The case went back to court last week for him to rule on damages due to the Bergsons.

He ordered Mr Adler to pay £8,800 compensation to Dr Bergson and £11,000 to her husband’s estate. He also ordered Mr Adler’s parents to pay £1,700 compensation to reflect interference with the Bergsons’ right of way over a passage leading to their flat.

The case will come back to court at a later date for a decision on who pays the lawyers’ bills for the dispute.