A man who tore the roof off his neighbours home in a bitter seven-year war over a garden fence was branded a ‘human wrecking ball’ by a judge today as he was jailed.
Mark Coates, 57, smashed a hole through the roof of his semi-detached home before clambering out.
He then began tearing off the tiles and chimney pots off the £450,000 home before throwing them to the ground.
When he had largely destroyed his own roof he moved over to his neighbours’ home and began tearing the tiles from their home.
Neighbour Janice Turner, 66, called police but was left crying in the garden as she watched Coates start to demolish her home.
Video of the incident, captured by police, showed Coates armed with a hammer methodically smashing up the roof of both homes.
A two hour police stand-off ensued before Coates was finally arrested and taken into custody.
A jury heard that in just two hours Coates had caused more than £200,000 worth of damage to the homes in Robertsbridge, near Hastings.
Video footage shows Mark Coates ‘systematically destroying’ the house as a bitter row escalated
Mark Coates, 57, (centre) pictured here being led to the court by a security officer, smashed a hole through the roof of his semi-detached home before climbing out on to the roof
The bitter row was over the fence separating the two gardens. Mark Coates’ garden is on the left
Coates was found guilty of two counts of criminal damage on the properties after a trial at Lewes Crown Court hut was cleared of harassment.
Residents living close to the victims said the dispute had had a massive effect on the whole community and branded Coates ‘one of the worst neighbours in Britain.’
Today Recorder Ben Williams KC sentenced Coates to four years and four months saying the wanton destruction of the homes was a clear ‘revenge attack’ on his neighbours and had had a ‘devastating’ impact on them.
He said Coates had fallen on the houses ‘like a human wrecking ball’ which had left the couple upset and traumatised.
He said Miss Turner now suffered from an ‘anxiety response’ every time she heard crockery smash.
However he said there were ‘tragic elements’ in the case as Coates had clearly lost his sense of reason due to the long-running neighbour dispute.
Neighbours David Greenwood, 69, and Janice Turner, 66, said the last seven years had been hugely stressful for them with Miss Turner so upset she could not sit in court for the sentencing.
Miss Turner said: ‘I was crying. I felt very, very frightened. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was extremely distressed.’
Neighbour Janice Tuner, 66, pictured, told a court she was ‘scared and upset’ after a tile flew past her face and immediately called police
Mr Greenwood, a mechanic, said: ‘He was systematically and vindictively destroying the property. He cut a hole through the joists. He took the staircase out of his house. His aim was to destroy and diminish its value. It was calculating and spiteful.’
‘Tiles were being thrown everywhere, chimney pots were being smashed off. I was quite shocked. I’ve never seen someone destroying a house that way before. The whole situation was completely out of hand. It was just total, total destruction.’
A resident in Robertsbridge, who did not want to be named, said: ‘Everyone has been affected by it. Coates has been very, very unpleasant. He’s got to be one of the worst neighbours in Britain.’
The incident happened on June 10 last year and brought to an end the long-running dispute between the neighbours which started when a fence panel fell down.
When a new fence separating their two gardens was erected the two neighbours disagreed over where the boundary was.
Lewes Crown Court heard that, after years of litigation, the case had eventually gone to the High Court.
The warring neighbours had been warned by High Court judge, Mr Justice Morgan, that persisting in the row could result in financial ruin for one or both of them before a ruling was made against Coates.
Coates, a father-of-five, was jailed, handed a £475,000 court bill and was ordered to sell his home to pay for the huge sum.
Coates’ neighbour David Greenwood (pictured) Mr Greenwood said ‘He was systematically and vindictively destroying the property. He cut a hole through the joists. He took the staircase out of his house. His aim was to destroy and diminish its value. It was calculating and spiteful’
As a result his property was to be sold to reimburse the victims’ legal fees as well as to pay for the damage caused to their property.
But just three days before he was due to hand over the house keys, Coates decided to cause massive damage to the properties.
A video, captured from a police body-worn camera, shows officers trying to reason with Coates and coax him down from the roof.
But Coates told officers: ‘I’ve had this house stolen off me by a judge and corrupt police. I’ll cause as much damage as I can to devalue the house.’
Coates then clambered across the roof and began smashing tiles from neighbours’ adjoining home, throwing tiles down into their garden.
Miss Turner said: ‘He was smashing a hole from the inside of his attic space and cutting the batons and knocking the tiles off the roof.
‘He was picking some of them up and throwing them into the garden and towards me. I was standing by my greenhouse and I felt debris from the roof go past my face.’
She said when the hole was big enough to climb through Coates clambered out onto the roof.
The disputed fence between the semi-detached properties of Mark Coates (right) and Janice Turner (left) as it was in 2015
Miss Turner said: ‘He continued to remove everything from that roof and then breached the party wall area and completely removed the best part of the roof at the rear of my property.’
In the video, shown to the court, Coates told officers his aim was to cause as much damage as possible.
He said he wanted charges to be so serious he would get a trial by jury where he would be able to expose officials who had used ‘corruption and bias’ to strip him of his home.
In mitigation Richard Body, defending, said Coates was a dedicated family man who had a previous good character.
He said: ‘However he has an aspect of his character that is stubborn which is how he has got himself into this very unfortunate position.’
Coates. who was cleared of two counts of causing fear of violence or harassment, was handed an indefinite restraining order.
