‘Menacing gang’ with their ‘spooky looks’...
Millionaire claims village pensioners are out to get him and his wife
A “MENACING gang” comprising a GP and three pensioners have been accused of orchestrating a campaign of harassment against their multi-millionaire neighbours.
Property magnate Mark Randolph Dyer and wife Clare claim their lives have been blighted through a “vendetta” orchestrated by the four in the Surrey Hills hamlet where they live in a £2.6million home.
The Dyers are suing for £1.3million claiming the alleged bad behaviour includes looking at them in a “spooky” way, using telephoto lenses and trespassing on their land. It comes amid a long-running row over the couple’s building plans.
But a lawyer for the quartet mocked the claim. Barrister Amy Proferes told London’s High Court: “They seek to frame every action or comment by any of the four as part of a coordinated campaign and the defendants – three of whom are elderly – as a menacing gang.
Injunction
“My clients vehemently deny any harassment of the Dyers.”
The quartet consists of Dr Andrew Cross, 63, retired bank executive David Small, 81, and his wife Susan, 78, plus charity trustee Patricia Webb, 77.
In one incident, Mr Small, who worked for the Bank of England before he retired, is said to have appeared on the roof of his house, “mimicking the voice” from his rich neighbours’ security system.
But the four deny doing anything wrong, branding the case “vexatious” and a “misconceived attempt to litigate village politics and perceived insults”.
The case reached court as Mr and Mrs Dyer, both 58, applied for an injunction against their neighbours, pending their full claim at a later date.The Dyers moved into their home in Brook back in 1997.
But in 2007 they clashed with council planners after they were found to have installed a “permanent helipad” in their field, which they were told to remove via an enforcement notice.
The Dyers also own a nearby field and two cottages, and over the years friction with their neighbours grew as they lodged more than 50 planning applications with the council as Mrs Dyer set about developing her real estate, the court heard. The couple say they have been the victims of a calculated bid by their neighbours to thwart their developments, and in a unique court fight are seeking an injunction “prohibiting them from objecting to planning applications”. And the couple are suing for £1.3million to reflect the alleged drop in property value caused by objections.
Their barrister, Richard Barraclough KC, told the court the harassment took the form of bombarding Guildford Borough Council with often spurious objections to their planning proposals, or individual acts of harassment such as “spooky gazing” or the intrusive use of a telephoto camera.
Mr Barraclough said: “It’s a personal vendetta – say the claimants – either through direct acts of harassment or by indirectly using the planning process to harass them.”
After a day in court, Judge Dexter Dias KC signalled he would give his ruling in July.