Nightmare neighbour ripped down shared hedge to make her flowerbed two feet bigger A 'nightmare' neighbour who ripped down a shared hedge in order to make her flowerbed two feet bigger has lost a six-year court battle with her neighbour.
Mr Walker-Smith's barrister Jonathan Wills said the couple had "unilaterally and outrageously removed the hedge" and the fence they put up was on Mr Walker-Smith's side of the boundary - meaning they had essentially land-grabbed part of his garden.
The couple claimed the earlier decision contradicted a lease plan showing the property's boundary line, but Mr Justice Marcus Smith said the existing hedge was also an important aspect that had to be considered.
Judge Alan Saggerson ruled in favour of Mr Walker-Smith, saying the Van Zyls had no right to take such a "spiteful unilateral action" in taking out the jointly owned hedge and replacing it with a new fence.
He said: "It might be said that Mr Walker-Smith isn't the neighbour from hell, but that is the neighbour who has removed a hedge that was there for very many years.".
