Although he did not award damages for the loss of privacy, Judge Mark Halliwell said the developers had committed "substantial acts of trespass," which had resulted in "a substantial number of trees and bushes" removed from Mr Bootle's side of the boundary.
But in doing their work, they had repeatedly crossed over the boundary and onto Mr Bootle's land, removing substantial amounts of bush and trees belonging to him, he found.
The development land and Mr Bootle's property were separated by a ditch and brook outside of the walls of his garden, with bushes, trees and fences on both sides of the watercourse.
In his evidence, Mr Booth said that, after further trees were chopped down, he arranged a meeting with representatives of the developers who accepted that trees had been cut down and that no further work on his side of the boundary was necessary.
The case went to court with Mr Bootle claiming in his evidence that the boundary between the two plots of land was the brook and ditch.
