Property magnate sues ‘menacing gang’ of retirees for £1.3m for objecting to plans for a helipad

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A “menacing gang” comprising a local GP and three village pensioners are being sued for £1.3 million after being accused of a campaign of harassment against their multi-millionaire neighbours.

Mark Randolph Dyer, a property magnate, and his wife Clare claim their lives have been blighted through a “vendetta” orchestrated by four silver-haired residents of Brook, the tiny hamlet where they live in a £2.6 million home in the Surrey hills.

The quartet – all members of the local Brook Residents’ Group – comprise Dr Andrew Cross, 63, a GP; David Small, 81, retired bank executive, and his wife Susan, 78; plus Patricia Webb, 77, A charity trustee.

They are accused of ganging up to harass the Dyers, looking at them in a “spooky” way, using telephoto lenses to intrude on their privacy and trespassing on their land amid a long-running row over the Dyers’ building plans.

In one incident, Mr Small, who worked for the Bank of England before he retired, is said to have appeared on the roof of his house, “mimicking the voice” from his rich neighbours’ security system.

But the four deny doing anything wrong, branding the case “vexatious” and a “misconceived attempt to litigate village politics and perceived insults”. 

The case reached court last week as Mr and Mrs Dyer, both 58, applied for an injunction against their neighbours, pending their full claim at a later date.

The Dyers moved into their home, which boasts a pool and tennis court, in 1997. 

However, in 2007 they clashed with local council planners after they were found to have installed a “permanent helipad” in their field, which they were told to remove via an enforcement notice.

Series of planning applications

The Dyers also own a nearby field and two cottages held in Mrs Dyer’s name, and over the years friction with their neighbours grew as they lodged over 50 planning applications with the local council as Mrs Dyer set about developing her real estate, London’s High Court heard.

The couple now say they have been the victims of a calculated bid by their neighbours to thwart their development plans, and in a unique court fight are seeking an injunction “prohibiting them from objecting to planning applications”.

On top of that, the couple are suing for £1.3m compensation to reflect the alleged drop in property value caused by the slew of objections, while the targeted injunction is also aimed at barring acts of “trespass and harassment”.

Their barrister, Richard Barraclough KC, told the court the harassment took the form of bombarding Guildford Borough Council with often spurious objections to their planning proposals, or individual acts of harassment such as “spooky gazing” or the intrusive use of a telephoto camera.

Mr Small was accused of deploying a camera with a long range lens to photograph his neighbours and being overly “concerned with their private lives”, Mr Barraclough told the court, adding that in one incident he had appeared on his rooftop “mimicking the voice from their security system”.

Harassment accusation

The Dyers have previously been involved in a dispute with another elderly villager, next-door neighbour David Baker, 80, after accusing him of 25 years of harassment, culminating in a fire damaging the fence between their gardens in June 2021.

None of the four was suggested to have any link to the fence fire, but Mr Baker, who also denied wrongdoing, was allegedly helped out in the dispute when it came to drafting letters and documents, which the Dyers claim was another form of harassment.