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Hatfield Court

Hatfield

Nr Leominster

Herefordshire

HR6 0SD

Phone: 01568 760333

October 1995

Judith Haines

Lloyds & Cooper

Dear Judith

I have over the last few weeks been consistently sending letters requesting a meeting with Gavin and Marjorie Moncrieff as there are a number of things I’d like to discuss with them and inform them of, or ask their opinion on. They have not, in fact, replied to a single one of these, nor even sent a simple acknowledgement, even to a letter saying that, as a memorial gesture to my dear Mother, we were happy to contribute over £1,000 to the Moncrieff’s scheme for ‘improving’ the drive.

I’ll be grateful if you could send this letter, plus a covering note of your own, to their solicitors, as I am at my wit’s end as to how to practice a ‘good neighbour’ policy with these people in the circumstances.

These letters were dated 16th, 25th, 26th and 29th September, and 21st and 22nd October, among others, and I’ll be happy to send you copies.

The last letter I appear to have received from the Moncrieffs is dated 17 August 1995, plus another in September, in which he describes entering the Eye Manor Cottage property (by what means not disclosed) and removing a ladder (which he says he felt to be a security risk) to a concealed place. Ladders have been moved on other occasions and other items have actually disappeared altogether (although they also may have been concealed somewhere).

On another occasion, Marjorie Moncrieff appeared among the shrubbery to the left of the stables and was seen approaching the cottage. Of course she is welcome to call at any time, but possibly by a more orthodox route. On realising that she was herself observed, she immediately withdrew into the shrubbery and, upon my following her by a more normal route and asking whether she wished to see me, she replied ‘No’.

On another occasion, speaking loudly either to himself or to some person unseen by me, I heard Gavin Moncrieff remark, ‘We’re going to have to get rid of that caravan.’ This was while standing outside Eye Manor Orchard, in Eye Lane. The context made it clear that the caravan referred to was mine, at the moment parked in Eye Cottage Orchard.

On another occasion, I observed Gavin Moncrieff urging a youngish man (who I took to be an employee) to drive a creosoted stake on to part of the land belonging to Eye Manor Cottage. While I appreciate that he may have felt this area was on his land (since there had been some discussion of where the boundary runs exactly in this area), the impression I got was that this was being done in a clandestine manner, and both parties withdrew on seeing that they were observed.

On another occasion, as I was sitting in Eye Manor Cottage Orchard, Gavin Moncrieff appeared outside the boundary and hastily took a photograph of me. He then positioned himself in Eye Lane and took another photograph of me. This was with a camera whose flashbulb flashed, although it was broad daylight.

On two or three occasions, he has appeared just outside the boundary of Eye Manor Cottage Orchard, or the cottage itself, and shouted abuse. On one occasion this appeared to be abusive of our Gypsy community (to whom I am, of course, connected). Since Gypsies are protected by our race relations legislation, he could in fact be prosecuted for this. His attitude was threatening and such as might, given a different temperament to my own, be well calculated to lead to a breach of the peace.

On another occasion, the Moncrieffs claimed, through their solicitors, that my sheep were ‘trespassing’ on their property. This is a particularly astonishing claim since I own no sheep and my sisters, living as they do in London and Carolina USA, might find shepherding of such sheep a problem, and I feel confidently able to claim that they own no sheep.

These various events, possibly insignificant in themselves, but taken together suggesting some possible danger intended or threatened by Gavin Moncrieff to property in the orchard, or at the least a threatening or intimidating atmosphere, lead me to request you to ask the Moncrieffs, through their solicitor, firstly not to trespass in Eye Cottage Orchard, except when so invited, such invitation of course to be most willingly proferred, and secondly, to invite them once again to a meeting, in the company of their vicar, the Rev Sue Strutt, if they would prefer.

Myself, I find it hard to forget that it was in Eye church that I received my first holy communion and, remembering the sacred injunction to ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ and bearing in mind the promise made each holy communion to live in love and charity with all men, to urgently request that they consider this.