A Perthshire couple say they feel “terrorised” by a neighbour who churned up part of their garden with an industrial digger and smashed up their property.
Grant Hunter has been ordered by a court not to go near Peter and Barbara Doogan amidst a bitter 18-month feud over shared land.
The households lived fewer than 16-feet apart in rural Abernethy, close to where the River Tay meets the Earn.
The Doogans claim their idyllic home life has been destroyed by the arrival of 38-year-old Hunter, who has caused them sleepless nights with a series of unsettling incidents.
The construction worker took an industrial digger to a shared patch of ground in April this year.
He returned to Perth Sheriff Court and admitted smashing one of the Doogan’s plant pots and fighting with police as they tried to arrest him in July, last year.
Hunter, who was bailed to another address in Newburgh, admitted assaulting two police officers and will be sentenced in December.
‘Terrorised’
The Doogans, who moved to Ferryfield House seven years ago, told prosecutors in a victim impact statement: “We can no longer stay next door to a nutter.
“We are both self-employed, pay our taxes and have no criminal record, but we have had no help from anyone and have spent thousands of pounds on solicitors.”
The statement concludes: “We feel the law is with the criminal. He seems to avoid the consequences of his actions.”
Hunter’s solicitor claimed in court the Doogans had effectively set up his client.
However, salon owner Mrs Doogan told The Courier: “He has just basically terrorised us for the last year.
“It has been scary.”
She said they have reported Hunter to police 47 times since the end of March, 2020.
Goats plan
Many of the incidents were never successfully pursued by police because of lack of evidence.
“When he first moved in two years ago, things were going okay.
“But it was around about the start of the first lockdown that trouble began.
“We both own land on the riverbank that had become really overgrown.
“I had been speaking to someone who was willing to loan us some goats to help keep that area tidy.
“We were told we needed to put up fencing to make sure the goats didn’t wander off.
“We spoke to Mr Hunter and he agreed to this, so Peter got to work.”
She said just before the final pieces were put in place, the fence was smashed down by Hunter, in a 4×4. He denies this and no action was taken by police.
Mrs Doogan, 55, said: “It has just been a nightmare for us.
“We just feel that we’re not getting any support. We’re going into debt over this.
“I spent £2,000 on solicitors, just to try and get his bail conditions tightened up but it didn’t seem to make any difference.
“We just want to sell up and move away but we can’t sell because of this joint ground.
“I hope that one day he will agree to separate the ground but to be honest, I can’t see that happening any time soon.”
‘Playing the system’
At a previous hearing, Perth Sheriff Court heard Hunter started digging random holes in the contested ground using an industrial digger.
“It was scary to see,” said Mrs Doogan.
“He was driving about, pulling up ground and swigging from a bottle of vodka.”
Hunter, who was at that point subject to a court order not to enter the land, was handed 100 hours of unpaid work.
His solicitor Gordon Martin claimed Hunter was trying to build a fence after his daughter was injured by the Doogans’ dog.
“It would seem that Mr Doogan would have known full well Mr Hunter was going to do some construction work of some sort on the area of ground he believed to be his.
“He was digging holes to build a fence.
“It is clear the conversation was aggressive from both parties. There are particular circumstances here.
“Him being intoxicated might also explain why common sense didn’t prevail.”
He added: “These people (the Doogans) know they can play the system and ensure he is arrested.”