Couple locked in 14-year neighbour battle over fence, ornamental squirrel & offensive YouTube songs ordered to pay £150k

A COUPLE who have been locked in a 14-year-long row over a fence stole the neighbour’s ornamental squirrel and released explicit songs about them on YouTube. Philip New, 52, and his wife Denise, 47, now face a £150,000 court bill after a small disagreement about a fence being a few inches out of line escalated into an all-out war. Philip New, 52, and Denise have been left with a court bill of £150,000 Credit: Kennedy News The Gibsons argued that the fence was in the wrong place and should be further into Phil and Denise’s garden Credit: Kennedy News The pair were sued by their neighbours Steve and Karen Gibson who said the fence row has caused them distress and even reduced them to tears. Mr Gibson told the court of his upset when Mr New removed an ornamental squirrel from a post between the properties shortly after they lost an appeal in the case. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The builder was also shocked to learn that comedy songwriter Mr New had written and published derogatory songs about him and the battle between the two couples on YouTube. One song, titled Neighbours, purported to offer advice on how to deal with bad neighbours and included the words: “Throw sh*t at their window, sh*t at the door/ Call him a w****r, call her a w***e.” Denise and Philip New outside the High Court after their hearing Credit: Champion News Service Mr New removed an ornamental squirrel from a post between the properties Credit: Champion New Service Ltd After a judge found against Mr and Mrs New at Southend County Court last year, they were ordered to pay the Gibsons £13,305 in combined damages and interest, and handed lawyers’ bills estimated at about £120,000 for the case. However, they launched a High Court appeal against the damages amount, arguing that it was substantially too high and should be reduced, with the result that the costs bill should also be overturned. The court ruled on Friday to reduce the damages amount by £700, but the News have instead been handed a further £19,000 bill for their neighbours’ legal costs after a judge found the Gibsons were the winners of the case in “substance and reality”. Mr Justice Thompsell said the News’ motivation for appealing had been to secure a big enough reduction in the damages to allow them to avoid having to pay their neighbours’ costs. Most read in The Sun However, he said a £700 reduction did not justify overturning the six-figure bill they were already facing, and ordered them to pay on top of that the Gibsons’ near £19,000 costs of the appeal. In the earlier judgment at the county court, Judge Robert Duddridge described the “wretched” dispute as one which had “consumed” the neighbours’ lives and was “unusually disproportionate, difficult and frustrating.” Setting out the background, he said the two couples live in next door semi-detached properties in Sunnymede Close, Thundersley, Essex, with their gardens separated by a wooden fence. The dispute began in 2012 when Mr New replaced some fence panels, with the Gibsons complaining that it was in the wrong place and not in a straight line. The two houses, Steve and Karen Gibson (house on right) and Denise and Philip New (house on left) Credit: Supplied by Champion News The High Court judge reduced the damages by £700 but added a further £19,000 to the News’ bill Credit: Getty The couples agreed to settle their differences outside court, with the appointment of an independent surveyor to determine the line of the boundary in 2015. But Mr and Mrs New disagreed with the line chosen by the expert and had a second opinion by another, leading to the dispute escalating into a court battle when the Gibsons sued in 2018. In 2021, the court ruled on the case, resulting in a declaration that the line chosen by the first surveyor had to be abided by and handing victory to Mr and Mrs Gibson. After a series of failed appeals, the case then moved on to Judge Duddridge for a determination of the amount in damages which the Gibsons were due for the News’ fence having trespassed on their land. In his evidence, Mr Gibson, who has a rare disability affecting his bones, said he thought the 2015 agreement would bring “finality” to the dispute but instead the News had not accepted it and continued to trespass. Interactions with their neighbours became “hostile” and they no longer used their garden like they would have done otherwise, he claimed. He said he had “lost his heart and soul” and he and his wife had been moved to tears at times due to the conflict with Mr and Mrs New. He told the court of his upset when Mr New removed an ornamental squirrel from a post between the properties shortly after they lost an appeal in the case, before then removing the post itself with his hands and a mallet. “According to his statement, the squirrel post had been built by his parents in law after he purchased the squirrel as a gift for Mrs Gibson and her parents during the 1980s and, for that reason, it had enormous sentimental value,” said the judge. Mr New argued he removed the squirrel post because it was dangerous but this was rejected by Judge Duddridge. In November 2020, one of the Gibsons’ children had discovered two songs – titled ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Magic Garden’ – on YouTube and Facebook, said the judge. “The song ‘Neighbours’ gives advice to the listener about how to deal with bad neighbours, including: ‘Throw shi*t at their window, sh*t at the door/ Call him a w***er, call her a w***e/ P*ss in their garden, till it’s quite late/ When they’re asleep, blow up their gate’,” he said. “The song ‘Magic Garden’ describes somebody who uses walking sticks and purports to be in pain when out in public, but throws their sticks away and is miraculously pain free when in their garden and is committing benefits fraud. “Mr Gibson described how upsetting, hurtful and hateful he found this song, which he thought was clearly about him, in view of his serious and rare disability and the difficulties he has had coming to terms with it.” While the judge did not think the News’ would carry out the song’s advice he said: “I am satisfied that the songs ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Magic Garden’ were directly about the Gibsons.” Mr New could have foreseen that uploading the song to social media means they might have been seen by people who know the Gibsons. “As he ended up acknowledging, their content is offensive and defamatory. I accept that the claimants, in particular Mr Gibson, found the songs deeply hurtful and embarrassing given his rare condition, and that it aggravated the unpleasantness, emotional upset and mental health issues caused by this dispute.” Although the fence only trespassed by a “matter of inches,” the Gibsons were “entitled to be compensated for the inconvenience and distress” they were caused. They were awarded “aggravated damages” due to Mr and Mrs New’s “high-handed, insulting or oppressive conduct.” When the case appeared before the High Court, the judge ordered a £700 reduction in the overall amount to be paid on the basis that the lower judge may have wrongly awarded damages for a period after the end of 2021 when the Gibsons could have erected a new fence. However, the judge refused to cut the damages in reference to the squirrel post incidents and the explicit songs. The previous judge “was assessing damages for distress, loss of privacy, inconvenience and loss of amenity caused by both a continuing trespass and a breach of an agreement and found justification for doing this in a number of decided cases,” he added. The decision means Mr and Mrs New will have to pay their neighbours about £12,600 in damages, nearly £19,000 to cover their lawyers’ bills for the appeal, and also to foot the bill for the proceedings at the county court, estimated by the Gibsons’ legal team at about £120,000. Comment now