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A neighbor who launched a campaign of harassment and “blackmail” against the son of an England cricket legend Colin Cowdrey, Closing the sale of your £3.85m homeNow facing a bill of £500,000 after losing a court battle.
Filmmaker Jeremy Cowdrey, 65, whose father famously captained England, has successfully sued his neighbor Vanessa Gibson over what she alleged were “lies” that had caused his sprawling 10-acre rural home in Goudhurst, Kent, to become unsellable.
The dispute began when Ms. Gibson purchased a strip of land which, bizarrely, also included part of Mr. Cowdrey’s tennis court.
This escalated to such an extent that a judge found it was an attempt to “blackmail” him and extort “unreasonable sums” to allow the sale of the property to go ahead.
matter reached Central London County Court Earlier this year, where Judge Jane Evans-Gordon ruled in Mr Cowdrey’s favour, describing his 55-year-old neighbour’s behavior as “unfair and oppressive”.
But last week the parties were back in court again when the judge ordered Mrs Gibson to foot Mr Cowdrey’s lawyers’ bills for the dispute, including a £360,000 advance, in addition to the £159,000 he still has to pay in compensation at the end of the trial in July.
After giving a legally binding “undertaking” about how and when she could contact Mr Cowdrey in the future, Mrs Gibson was told that if she failed to behave, she could face jail.
The court heard during the trial that Mrs Gibson had lived in the area for many years. Mr Cowdrey moved in in early 2022 after purchasing Crowbourne Farm.
It is composed of a spacious Grade II-listed farmhouse with its own wine cellar, a separate guest cottage, studio, barn and workshop, a quadruple car port and over 10 acres of grounds including a tennis court, stables, woods and two lakes.
Mr Cowdrey told the judge that before he bought it he had been warned about the potential for trouble with his neighbour, who lives in the adjacent barn.
However, the pair initially had a good “neighbourly” relationship, with Mrs Gibson helping the cricketer’s son feed the ducks.
He said he thought he could overcome any problems, but within a few months he realized the property was “not right” for him and decided to sell.
Viewings were arranged and buyers found, a sale price of £3.85 million was agreed, but the buyers backed out after a series of emails sent by Mrs Gibson.
The court heard there was previously a dispute over the ownership of the land bought by Mrs Gibson, which was resolved when Mr Cowdrey agreed to close it down and give up any claims on it, but emails from Mrs Gibson showed the dispute was continuing.
She had emailed him, his solicitor and estate agent with allegations relating to the right to run water, electricity, sewage and phone services to his land, and raised issues with flooding in the area, suggesting it could be caused by work carried out by previous owners on Mr Cowdrey’s land.
Suing for malicious falsehood and harassment, Mr Cowdrey claimed his neighbor had “terrorised” him and compared the “clusterbomb” of his constant complaints to akin to water torture.
“I compared it to a Japanese drop of water because it was like that,” he said. “We’re on the third anniversary of this. It’s been a really horrible experience.”
Mrs Gibson, representing herself, denied Mr Cowdrey’s claims and said he had only raised legitimate issues about the property and it was in fact Mr Cowdrey who had behaved in a “rude” manner.
But finding for Mr Cowdrey in July, the judge said the boundary dispute had been settled and Mrs Gibson had tried to “conceal her intention to interfere with Mr Cowdrey’s sale”.
His allegations that there were “ongoing disputes” regarding tennis courts, utility services and breach of land contracts were “false”, he added.
“Looking at Ms Gibson’s conduct from March 2022 to June 2023, it seems to me that her actions were motivated by an improper purpose, namely to cause loss, particularly economic loss, to deter Mr Cowdrey from selling Crowbourne Farm unless he reimbursed her any consideration,” she said.
“I am satisfied that Ms Gibson concealed her purchase of the strip from Mr Cowdrey until she could use her ownership to extract significant payments from him.
“Certainly, Ms. Gibson was entitled to pursue her own interests, which may have included benefiting economically from her land and entering into contracts that benefited that land.
“But there comes a point where a reasonable motivation turns into an unreasonable objective and, in my judgment, that point was reached in this case.”
He said: “I am satisfied that Mrs Gibson’s conduct went far beyond any reasonable promotion of her own interests and amounted to blackmail or malicious intent.”
In the lawsuit, Mr Cowdrey said his house would now be worth £3.7m without Mrs Gibson’s allegations and so he sued for the £150,000 difference between that sale and the £3.85m he lost.
Agreeing, the judge said: “In my judgment, the sum of £150,000, including interest, is the appropriate measure of damages.” He also awarded damages of a further £9,000 for the “oppressive and unfair” campaign of harassment.
Back in court on Friday, Mr Cowdrey’s barrister Brook Lynn argued that Mrs Gibson should pay his huge legal bills for the dispute, which she said were more than £400,000.
Passing judgment, the judge said Mrs Gibson must pay costs, a large portion of which is assessed on the basis of punitive “damages” due to the way the litigation was conducted.
She ordered some money to be paid upfront before a full assessment of Mr Cowdray’s costs could be made, and told him: “I am going to make an order for payment of a sum of £300,000 – £360,000 including VAT.”
Mrs Gibson, who told the court she had “no money” to pay the bill, gave a series of “undertakings” as to how and when she could contact Mr Cowdrey.
The judge warned him about the seriousness of making such legally binding promises, saying: “An undertaking is equivalent to a court order.
“If you violate this, you will be in contempt of court as if you violated a court order.
“Contempt of court which is established beyond reasonable doubt is punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to two years.”
Jeremy Cowdray is the second son of Colin, Lord Cowdray, who was the first cricketer to play 100 Tests and the first to be created a peer for his services to the game.
Lord Cowdrey was an excellent batsman, renowned for his style and recklessness on and off the field, with one commentator saying he “looked rather charming than striking the ball” and a fellow England player labeling him an “unbridled genius”.
His other son, Jeremy, worked as a City stockbroker for 20 years, later starting to work as a film producer and helping make films. heat in february In 2013, Dan Stevens starred Downton Abbey fame.
Lord Cowdrey’s two other sons, Chris and Graham, went on to play cricket for Kent and Chris also played six Tests for England. They also had a daughter, Caroline.