Robert McCarthy, a 59-year-old civil construction manager, and Amanda McCarthy, a 61-year-old carer, bought their home in Common View, Bumbles Green, Nazeing, in 2001. Their neighbors are Foulla Bowler, 61, John Barberis, 63, and Mary Englishby, 59, who own the house behind the McCarthys' garden. The two properties were divided by a fence, with Leylandii trees planted on the McCarthys' side of the boundary.
A boundary dispute erupted around 2018, with the siblings claiming the dividing line was beyond the fence, placing the Leylandii trees on their land. Amid what multiple reports describe as 'fence wars' between the neighbors, the siblings took unilateral action to re-order the disputed boundary. Foulla Bowler, John Barberis, and Mary Englishby removed the Leylandii trees by pulling out their back fence and hiring tree surgeons.
This is a protracted and potentially ruinous boundary dispute between neighbors.
Foulla Bowler applied for permission to fell 29 trees in 2018 and cut most down in January 2022. The tree felling continued into a second day despite the McCarthys writing to stop it. The McCarthys claimed the tree removal amounted to 'systematic destruction' of their garden, ruining their home's privacy.
The siblings claimed the foliage was 'overshadowing' their garden, but the McCarthys maintained that the removal violated their property rights. Judge Alan Saggerson ruled in favor of the McCarthys on the boundary location, finding the siblings trespassed into the McCarthys' garden to cut down the trees. He called it 'a protracted and potentially ruinous boundary dispute between neighbors,' though the specific evidence or legal arguments that led to this ruling have not been detailed publicly.
The full cost to the siblings will be decided later, but they are likely liable for the McCarthys' legal bills estimated at £130,000, plus their own costs and up to £115,000 in compensation. The exact final amount the siblings will have to pay in total costs and compensation remains unknown, as does whether Foulla Bowler received official permission to fell the trees in 2018 and from which authority. It is also unclear what actions, if any, the McCarthys took to resolve the boundary dispute before the tree removal in 2022, or how the 'fence wars' escalated from 2018 to 2022.