A 15-inch boundary line sparked a four-year wheelie bin spat which saw a Harley Street doctor and retired solicitor accuse one another of digging up flowerbeds.
Hugh Clement Sorrell, 76, was cleared of harassing former GP Dr Jayshree Pillaye, 72, after repeated run-ins outside their homes in Pinner, northwest London.
The pair, who had both lived on the street for more than 30 years, were embroiled in a furious dispute which came to blows between February and August last year.
But Mr Sorrell was cleared of harassment at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on Friday, after a judge ruled he had simply ‘protected his proprietary rights.’
The bitter argument came down to a 15-inch strip of land between Mr Sorrell’s wooden bin store and Dr Pillaye’s shed.
Hugh Clement Sorrell, 76, was cleared of harassing former GP Dr Jayshree Pillaye, 72, after repeated run-ins outside their homes in Pinner, northwest London. Their bitter argument came down to a 15-inch stripe of land (pictured) between Mr Sorrell’s wooden bin store (right) and Dr Pillaye’s shed (left)
The GP put her bins in front of the shed in a way that allowed her to open its door without moving them.
But Mr Sorrell claimed this encroached on his land, which he said ran 15-inches to the left of his wooden bin store.
Harley Street GP Dr Jayshree Pillaye, 72, claims she was abused by her neighbour
Yet Dr Pillaye maintained that the boundary of her land goes directly to the end of Mr Sorrell’s bin store.
And she claimed the wooden structure was actually on communal land due to the four tenants being freeholders.
Mr Sorrell claims their relationship first soured when the general practitioner lost a civil claim against the other leaseholders in Pinner in 2013 and was ordered to pay £450,000 court costs.
As a Tamil Hindu Dr Pillaye also placed a number of religious artefacts in the disputed area – which she claimed Mr Sorrell moved.
Mr Sorrell, who worked as a property and lease specialist, was found not guilty of harassing Dr Pillaye by abusing her between February 17 and August 20, last year.
District Judge Dennis Brennan ruled: ‘The defendant did nothing more than protect his proprietary rights, apart from one incident in four years when he called her a b****.’
Hugh Clement Sorrell, 76, found himself arrested and prosecuted after repeated run-ins with Dr Jayshree Pillaye. He has now been cleared of harassment
Mr Sorrell and Dr Pillaye live in apartments in this Tudor-style property in northwest London
Giving evidence behind a screen Dr Pillaye told the trial: ‘I was in fear every time I stepped out to my bins. Mr Sorrell said things that were hurtful, fearful and caused me to panic.
‘He said that I didn’t own land to the side of my kitchen, that I was squatting and trespassing and that I didn’t own my part of the freehold.
‘He said that I was a thief and made me doubt whether I owned my flat. Mr. Sorrell is a solicitor and he said it so often I wondered what is the truth and what isn’t and had to look at my own deeds.’
Mr Sorrell told the court: ‘I was annoyed that she was trespassing, virtually on a daily basis, not one bin, but three and would shunt mine aside.’
He also alleged she dug up lavender flowers he planted.
Dr Pillaye began recording their confrontations on her phone, claiming her neighbour would abuse her from an upstairs window.
‘He would say: ‘You are unworthy, go and squat somewhere else. He would refer to my brain as: “Sawdust between your ears” and say: “How can you be a doctor if you can’t read?”
‘He also used the derogatory term ‘c****e’ and called me a b**** a couple of times and called me a cow and made a moo sound.
‘It is dehumanising, I despaired, I felt helpless, there as no civility.’
The pair had lived in leased apartments in Pinner, northwest London, for some 30 years
Mr Sorrell told the trial Dr Pillaye’s behaviour was motivated by her earlier expensive civil court defeat, adding: ‘She did not like that she was condemned to indemnity costs.
‘She would move her bins onto land comprising my lease and I would move them off. She put her bins totally in my area virtually on a daily basis.
‘She did not tend to come out after dark so at sunset I would move them.’
After the not guilty verdict was announced, the court heard Dr. Pillaye had made another complaint to police regarding more recent incidents, which may be subject to investigation.