Villagers accused of harassing millionaire neighbours sued for £1.3M

Village ‘gang’ of pensioners are sued for £1.3M by property tycoon after they are accused of menacing neighbour amid clash over development of his £2M mansion – including helipad installation

• Mark and Clare Dyer have clashed with neighbours in hamlet of Brook, Surrey
• They’re suing Dr Andrew Cross, David Small, Susan Small and Patricia Webb 

A GP and three village pensioners are being sued for £1.3million after they were accused of spying on their multi-millionaire neighbours and trespassing on their land to thwart efforts to extend their home.

Mark Randolph Dyer, a property magnate, and his wife Clare, have clashed with neighbours in the tiny hamlet of Brook in recent years over plans to develop their £2.6million house in the Surrey hills.

The couple moved into their property, which boasts a pool and tennis court, in 1997 but are said to have caused a stir when they installed a ‘permanent helipad’ in their field ten years later. They were told to remove it via an enforcement notice.

They also own a field and two cottages in Mrs Dyer’s name, and friction grew as they lodged more than 50 planning applications with the council, London’s High Court heard. 

In response, four villagers – GP Dr Andrew Cross, 63, retired bank executive David Small, 81, and his wife Susan, 78, plus charity trustee Patricia Webb, 77 – are said to have launched a campaign of harassment against the couple.

Local GP Dr Andrew Cross is one of four villagers accused of spying on their multi-millionaire neighbours and trespassing on their land in a bid to thwart efforts to extend their home

Mark Randolph Dyer, a property magnate, and his wife Clare, have clashed with neighbours in the tiny hamlet of Brook in recent years over plans to develop their £2.6million house in the Surrey hills

The couple moved into their property, which boasts a pool and tennis court, in 1997 but are said to have caused a stir when they installed a ‘permanent helipad’ in their field ten years later

The ‘menacing’ clique – all members of the local Brook Residents Group – are accused of ganging up to look at the Dyers in a ‘spooky’ way, using telephoto lenses to intrude on their privacy and trespassing on their land.

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’.

Mr and Mrs Dyer, both 59, 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 £1.3million 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 objections to their planning proposals, or individual acts of harassment such as ‘spooky gazing’.

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, He added that in one incident Mr Small had appeared on his rooftop ‘mimicking the voice from their security system’.

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 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.

‘The claimants suggest that the conduct of the defendants is aimed at them whether by individual acts or through the planning process,’ he explained.

‘It’s a personal vendetta – say the claimants – either through direct acts of harassment or by indirectly using the planning process as a device to harass them.’

Retired bank executive David Small, 81, and his wife Susan (right), 78, are also part of the group being sued for £1.3million

Patricia Webb says she hasn’t spoken to either of the Dyers in 26 years, but is accused of harassing Mrs Dyer’s tenants at their cottage

A planning document for the development of the Dyers’ home, Cheynes, which is said to have caused conflict with neighbours

 The long-established Guildford GP had drawn flak from the couple after lodging a successful complaint with the local council in 2021 about Mrs Dyer’s high hedge (highlighted in a planning document)

He said the Dyers’ lives had been plagued by their neighbours, noting how Mrs Dyer has undergone a ‘change of personality as a result of the harassment’ – even refusing to leave the country and living in a ‘permanent state of worry’.

But the quartet’s barrister, Amy Proferes, said the individual acts of alleged harassment were petty and in many cases stretched far back into the past – with the Dyers even complaining about ‘a single incident of alleged trespass by Mr Small’ back in 1998.

The planning issues raised by the Dyers were their ‘real axe to grind’, she alleged, adding: ‘The other allegations are being used to justify a very unusual basis for a harassment claim’.

And she insisted the Dyers were seeking to put a sinister gloss on innocent acts by her clients, telling the court: ‘They seek to frame every action or comment by any of the four as part of a coordinated campaign and the defendants – three of whom are elderly – as a menacing “gang”.

‘My clients vehemently deny any harassment of the Dyers.’

Other allegedly offensive neighbourly conduct included ‘making a few comments about Mr Dyer during occasional conversations with Mrs Dyer over the years, the most recent being in March 2020’, said Ms Proferes.

She said Mr Small had become the main focus of the Dyers’ ‘ire’, with Dr Cross also singled out ‘to a lesser extent’.

The long-established Guildford GP had drawn flak from the couple after lodging a successful complaint with the local council in 2021 about Mrs Dyer’s high hedge, said Ms Proferes.

‘Apart from welcoming them to the village in 1997, their sons attending each other’s third birthday parties in 1998, and a few texts and emails in 2020 regarding the installation of razor wire by the Dyers, he had little contact with them until January 2021 when he lodged a successful complaint regarding Mrs Dyer’s high hedge with the local council,’ she said.

Mr Small, who denies all the harassment claims, says he has barely seen Mr Dyer in the past 20 years, while he and his wife have only occasionally encountered Mrs Dyer while walking their dogs.

Mrs Small likewise denies the claims and her lawyers maintain she has ‘no case to answer’.

An aerial view shows Mark and Clare Dyer’s luxury home, which they have tried to develop multiple times in recent years

They also own a field and two cottages in Mrs Dyer’s name, and friction grew as they lodged more than 50 planning applications with the council, London ‘s High Court heard

One of the couple’s previous planning applications, which has been the subject of a row with neighbours

A ground floor plan is among the documents Mr and Mrs Dyer have submitted to Guildford Borough Council

Mrs Webb says she hasn’t spoken to either of the Dyers in 26 years, but is accused of harassing Mrs Dyer’s tenants at their cottage ‘in respect of their dogs’ behaviour’.

Her barrister claimed that allegation boiled down to a tenant complaining that a fence installer hired by Mrs Webb had threatened their dogs, but Mrs Webb maintains that her builder told her that the dogs had attacked him.

She is also said to have ‘objected to [some] of Mrs Dyer’s planning applications and looked at the Dyers once’.

After a day in court, Judge Dexter Dias KC reserved his decision on whether to grant an injunction, signalling that he will give his ruling in July.

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