Hay wall is last straw in neighbours’ feud
A FORMER policing chief has been accused of taking revenge on his neighbour by building an 8ft-high wall of hay and straw bales which blocked their view of his meadow.
Stephen Bett, a former police and crime commissioner for Norfolk, created the barrier after 95 of his Leylandii trees – which are often used to preserve privacy – were torn down at night by an unknown vandal.
Giant round bales were placed on top of each other in a line close to the boundary of Mr Bett’s garden, covering the entire 60ft width of the back garden of his neighbour Maxine Turner’s bungalow.
As a result, Mrs Turner, 78, who has multiple sclerosis, can no longer see the horses in Mr Bett’s meadow in front of his 18th-century mansion in Thornham, Norfolk.
Her son, John Turner, 50, who is her live-in carer during the week, accused Mr Bett of putting up the bales as “an act of spite” and said his mother was “devastated”.
“All she can see is this wall made of straw,” he added.
But Mr Bett, 69, who was Norfolk’s independent PCC from 2012 until 2016, insisted he had only put up the wall as he did not want to look at his neighbours “barbecuing and putting their washing out”.