Peter and Kelly Leonard’s Lower Fenemere Court home, near Shrewsbury (Image: The Mirror/Champion News)
A pensioner shepherdess has emerged partly victorious but faces high legal costs in a long-running dispute with her neighbours over a gate at her smallholding.
Muriel Whiston, 80, a Charollais sheep breeder, installed new gates across a shared track at the entrance to her smallholding and put up a sign instructing that they be kept shut “at all times” to protect her flock.
Her neighbours, Peter Leonard, 42, and his wife Kelly, 46, who run a rabbit refuge in Baschurch, near Shrewsbury, argued the gate interfered with their right of way and prevented delivery drivers from turning around. They also claimed it blocked Mrs Leonard from reversing her Land Rover Defender 130, forcing her to “engage in a multi-point turning manoeuvre to point in the right direction.”
The couple took Mrs Whiston to Birmingham County Court, seeking the removal of the gate and sign. They claimed that combined with her alleged “abusive” behaviour, the gate caused an “unreasonable interference” with their access.
The couple has four young children using the courtyard for playing (Image: The Mirror/)
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Mrs Whiston denied any interference, insisting she was within her rights to “politely” tell delivery drivers and visitors to shut the gate after use. She also counter-sued to make the Leonards keep a barn door closed, preventing their animals from mixing with her sheep.
In September 2024, Judge Sarah Watson ruled the sign was unreasonable and must be replaced but found the gate could remain, and Mrs Whiston’s conduct was not “abusive”. Her request to force the neighbours to keep the barn door shut was also denied.
The row continued in the High Court, where Mr Justice Green dismissed both sides’ appeals. He upheld that Mrs Whiston must pay the legal costs, expected to run into six figures.
The judge said: “It is most regrettable that this matter could not be resolved out of court and that there has been so much time and money spent in relation to this dispute, quite out of proportion to the issues at stake.”
The court heard that Mrs Whiston’s family has owned the farm and adjoining land since before she was born. The property was split in 1996, with Mrs Whiston keeping a bungalow and part of the land for her sheep, while the Leonards bought the main farmhouse, outbuildings, and 33 acres for around £900,000 in 2017.
A gate already existed across the track to stop the sheep escaping, but it was often left open until disputes arose during the Covid pandemic.
Mr Justice Green said: “Delivery drivers either have to make multi-point turns on the hardstanding or dangerously reverse all the way down the track, which they do very slowly, thus causing further obstruction.”
According to The Telegraph, he dismissed the neighbours’ appeal against the 2024 ruling, as well as Mrs Whiston’s appeal against having to pay the costs of the case, saying that despite having lost on some issues, the couple were “clearly the winners in this case”.