Three siblings in Essex were ordered to pay about £30,500 in damages and £178,668 in their neighbours’ legal costs after cutting down a row of 33-foot Leylandii trees during a long-running boundary dispute.
asserted
siblings → order → dispute
The court found that the siblings had trespassed into their neighbours’ garden and acted in a 'high-handed' and 'bullying' manner.
asserted
siblings → find → manner
According to The Standard, the dispute involved Robert McCarthy, 59, his wife Amanda, 61, and their neighbours Foulla Bowler, 61, John Barberis, 63, and Mary Englishby, 59.
uncertain
dispute → accord → McCarthy
The McCarthys had lived in their home in Nazeing, Essex, since 2001, while Bowler had grown up in the neighbouring family home, which she now owns with her brother and sister.
asserted
she → live → brother
The two properties were separated by a fence, with a line of Leylandii trees on the McCarthys’ side.
asserted
properties → separate → side
But around 2018, a dispute began over where the actual boundary between the gardens lay.
asserted
boundary → begin → gardens
Bowler and her siblings claimed the boundary was beyond the fence and that the trees therefore stood on their land.
asserted
trees → claim → land
The disagreement eventually led to the removal of the fence and the cutting down of most of the trees in January 2022.
asserted
disagreement → lead → January
The McCarthys said the loss of the trees left their garden exposed, damaged their privacy and changed how they used their home.
asserted
they → say → home
They later took the siblings to court.
asserted
They → take → court
Dispute turns into court battle
The court heard that the McCarthys believed the old fence marked the boundary when they bought their home.
asserted
they → turn → home
Robert McCarthy said the trees were already well established at the time.
asserted
trees → say → time
“The trees were well-established when we moved in,” he told the judge, as quoted by The Standard.
asserted
he → establish → Standard
“We thought the chain link fence was the boundary as it ran along.
asserted
it → think → ?
I had no reason not to believe that to be the boundary,” McCarthy added.
asserted
McCarthy → have → reason
The siblings, however, maintained that the fence and trees were actually on their land.
asserted
fence → maintain → land
They said they had the right to remove them because they were causing 'overshadowing' and could potentially damage their property.
uncertain
they → say → property
The dispute continued for several years.
asserted
dispute → continue → years
Bowler had applied in 2018 for permission to fell 29 trees.
asserted
Bowler → apply → trees
According to the McCarthys’ barrister, Christopher Coyle, the family later went ahead with the removal, with the felling continuing into a second day even after the McCarthys’ lawyers had written to ask them to stop.
uncertain
lawyers → accord → them
Robert McCarthy described the work as an “invasion” and said it had resulted in a “relentless destruction of my garden.
asserted
it → describe → garden
This is how we feel as a family.
asserted
we → feel → family
I can stand upstairs in my house and they can see me walking around.
asserted
me → stand → house
I want my privacy back like I had,” he told the court.
asserted
he → want → court
Couple said they stopped using their garden
asserted
they → say → garden
The McCarthys told the court that the removal of the trees had affected their family’s everyday life.
asserted
removal → tell → life
They said they no longer felt comfortable using the back garden and had stopped inviting people, including their children’s friends, to their home.
asserted
they → say → home
Amanda McCarthy said they had “only ever used the front rooms of their house” since the trees were removed.
asserted
trees → say → house
She also told the court that she had become “depressed as a result of the stress that has been caused”.
asserted
that → tell → stress
“After the invasion it feels completely destroyed.
asserted
it → feel → invasion
There's little or nothing left of what was our garden.
asserted
what → be → ?
Since the invasion we don't use the garden at all,” she said.
asserted
she → use → garden
The couple had sought compensation that included the cost of planting new trees and restoring their privacy.
asserted
that → seek → privacy
They also asked the court to declare that the true boundary was the line of the old fence.
asserted
boundary → ask → fence
In an earlier judgment following a trial, Judge Alan Saggerson ruled in favour of the McCarthys on the location of the boundary.
asserted
Saggerson → follow → boundary
He found that the siblings had trespassed into the neighbours’ garden when they removed the trees.
asserted
they → find → trees
The judge said the siblings had taken “unilateral action to re-order the disputed boundary” during what he described as “fence wars” between the neighbours.
asserted
he → say → neighbours
He also said their evidence was less reliable and less accurate than that of the McCarthys.
asserted
evidence → say → McCarthys
However, he did not find that the siblings were lying.
asserted
siblings → find → ?
Instead, he said they had “persuaded themselves of the righteousness of their own case.”
asserted
they → say → case
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
