Essex fence dispute: ‘Bullying’ siblings slapped with £209,000 court bill after hacking down neighbours’ trees

Three siblings face losing their childhood home after a court ordered them to pay £209,000 for “bullying” their neighbors by chopping down their 33-metre cypress tree.

Building magnate Robert McCarthy and his wife Amanda had been living together in “relative harmony” with Foulla Bowler and his two siblings, who previously owned the adjoining property in Nazeing, Essex.

But a boundary dispute erupted in 2018 and the couple took legal action after Ms Bowler, along with her brother John Barberis and sister Mary Englishby, removed their back fence and hired tree surgeons to cut down 33ft Leylandii trees, which the brothers claimed were “shading” their garden.

At Central London District Court, the McCarthys testified that the “systematic destruction” of their garden had completely removed the privacy of their home.

This situation forced them to not use their backyards for years, forced them to live in front of their houses, and prohibited their children from making friends.

The court also heard that as a direct result of the neighbours’ “oppressive behaviour” Ms McCarthy’s mental health had deteriorated, leading to depression.

Following a hearing in 2025, Judge Alan Saggerson ruled in favor of the McCarthys on the location of the boundary, finding that the “bullying, bullying” brothers had “trespassed” on their neighbor’s yard to cut down trees.

The trio had taken “unilateral action to realign the disputed boundary” between the properties during what they called “fence wars” between neighbours.

Following another hearing this week, he ordered the brothers to pay compensation of around £30,500, as well as £178,668 towards the McCarthys’ legal bills.

This bill includes its own significant court costs; Following the court loss, the trio sold their childhood home, the judge said.

The judge who handed down the verdict criticized the “bullying, bullying” brothers, adding: “It seems clear to me that the plaintiffs were victims of overbearing, oppressive behaviour. This goes well beyond the ordinary course of trespassing.”

At the hearing last October the judge was told that construction manager Mr McCarthy, 59, and his carer wife Amanda, 61, bought their home in Common View, Bumbles Green, Nazeing, in 2001.

At the back of the house, which Ms McCarthy said had a “perfect, lovely garden” when they moved in, is the home of Ms Bowler, 61, known as Kormakitis.

This was the family home of Mrs Bowler in her youth but she now lives there with her own family and owns the house with her two siblings, John Barberis, 63, and Mary Englishby, 59.

Lawyer Christopher Coyle, for the McCarthys, told the judge the two gardens were divided by a fence and there was a row of Leylandii trees on the McCarthys’ side.

But around 2018 a violent border dispute erupted, with Ms Bowler and her siblings settling the Leylandii on their land, claiming the dividing line was actually beyond the fence.

And Mr Bowler had applied for permission to cut down 29 trees in 2018, despite knowing there was a dispute; The family put the plan into action by cutting most of it in January 2022.

Mr Coyle said the slashing continued for a second day, despite the McCarthys writing to the brothers through lawyers demanding they stop the slashing.

Giving evidence, Mr McCarthy described it as an “invasion” and complained about the “brutal destruction of my garden”.

“I can stand upstairs in my house and they can see me walking around,” he said.

“I want my privacy back the way it was before.”

The couple said when they bought the house they were led to believe that the fence beyond the trees was the boundary, making the trees part of their property.

“The trees were well established when we moved in,” he told the judge.

“We thought the chain link fence was the limit. I had no reason not to believe it was the limit.”

Ms McCarthy added that they and their children stopped making friends around after being “yelled at” by neighbours.

He said the family had “only used the front room of their home” since the trees were removed and had become “depressed due to the stress created”.

“It looks like it was completely destroyed after the occupation. There is little or nothing left of our garden. We do not use the garden at all since the occupation,” he added.

The McCarthys sued for damages, including money to plant new trees and restore their privacy, as well as a declaration that the real boundary was the old fence line.

But Ms Bowler and her siblings insisted they had every right to remove the hedges and trees from their land because of “shading” and potential damage to their land.

Giving the verdict, Judge Saggerson said the brothers’ evidence was “less reliable and less accurate” than that of the McCarthys, but he did not find them to be lying, but instead “convinced themselves of the righteousness of their own case”.

Awarding costs and damages this week, he said: “The defendants were responsible for overstepping over a considerable period of time.

“The center of gravity of this case is the felling of trees on or around the boundary, which in my judgment amounted to trespass and had a serious impact on the welfare of the plaintiffs in many respects.

“He opened up their backyard to the unwanted attention of their neighbors.

“Unfortunate and harsh shouts and insults were rained down from the defendants’ garden to the plaintiffs’ garden.

“For a few years they stopped inviting people, and they stopped inviting people, especially children.

“In a domestic situation like this, the loss of privacy was significant.

“I accept that from January 2022 onwards, plaintiffs have increasingly had to live almost entirely in front of their homes.

“All of this had a detrimental effect on the second plaintiff’s mental health.”

Criticizing the “aggressive and somewhat bullying behavior of the defendants”, he went on: “The defendants had persistently asserted rights over this small territory.

“It seems clear to me that the plaintiffs were victimized by overbearingly oppressive conduct. This goes well beyond the ordinary course of trespassing. Overbearingly overbearing conduct warrants additional damages.”

But he rejected an order for neighbors to foot the bill for 8metre-tall trees to be planted to replace felled trees at a cost of £105,000.

“No reasonable person spending their own money would do that,” he said, paying the McCarthys £5,000 in compensation for smaller trees to be planted and grown.

“I was told that the defendants’ property should be marketed if it was not already marketed,” the judge added.