Gardener who took on City tycoon in bill row wins £24k

A MILLIONAIRE who told his garden designer ‘sue me you p***k’ after refusing to pay up for work at his Chelsea townhouse has been told to hand over nearly £24,000. Asset management boss Angus Murray, 48, who used to enjoy big game hunting, refused to settle his bill with top landscape architect Jonathan Taylor after changing his mind about the patio stones he wanted at his £9.7million home.

Mr Taylor’s company – award-winning Jonathan Mark Garden Design – began work while Mr Murray, who is Australian, was away on a trip in 2017, but the businessman said he was ‘disappointed’ with what he saw on his return.

He complained that the paving was in the wrong pattern and colour and had ‘misaligned corners’ and stepping stones had been laid ‘in an unsightly and impractical manner’.

When Mr Murray returned to his home in West London, ‘ it was abundantly apparent that he was unhappy’, Judge David Mayall said.

Mr Murray also said a small line of box plants were too close together to grow properly.

And Katy Leo, a colleague of Mr Murray, also complained that labourers had left a protruding manhole cover that remained a ‘complete eyesore’.

Efforts to resolve the conflict reached deadlock, with Mr Murray wanting the landscapers to pull out most of the slabs they had laid, Central London County Court heard.

The two sides hit the point of no return in early May 2017, when an associate of Mr Taylor made an ‘unauthorised’ visit to write a report.

Mr Murray fired off an email ‘effectively inviting Mr Taylor to sue him and using some colourful language’, said the judge.

In his evidence, Mr Taylor said the homeowner had told him: ‘Sue me, you p***k.’ Another email accused him of carrying out ‘appalling work’ and thundered: ‘Get your c**p and stone out of my house.’

Mr Taylor’s men were unable to finish the job and, soon after, Mr Murray brought in new contractors, who ripped up most of the work. His firm, based in Portobello, West London, was seeking £ 27,496 in damages for breach of contract.

Mr Murray, who did not attend court, denied the allegation and said Mr Taylor’s company was itself in breach.

Judge Mayall rejected the businessman’s claims against Jonathan Mark Garden Design and awarded the firm £23,989 in damages.

He described Mr Taylor as an ‘honest witness’, saying: ‘ The stones laid were in accordance with the samples approved by Miss Leo and in accordance with the wishes of Mr Murray.’

And he added that said there was ‘no evidence to suggest the plants are not going to thrive because they were planted too close together’.

There was no answer at Mr Murray’s door yesterday, with a neighbour suggesting he was travelling in Australia.

Mr Murray founded Castlestone Management in 1996, and numerous photographs online show his enthusiasm for big game hunting. He claimed to have given up the controversial hobby in a 2015 interview.

Mr Taylor declined to make a comment.