Mark Coates has been jailed for four years and four months (Image: CPS)
A nightmare neighbour has been jailed after a seven-year war between the two homes led to £200,000 worth of damages. Mark Coates, 57, has been sent to prison after he tore the roof off an elderly couple’s home after smashing his own. Footage shows him wrecking the roof of his own semi-detached house before climbing out.
He then began tearing off the tiles and chimney pots one by one and throwing them on the ground of his £450,000 home. After he had largely wrecked his own home, Coates moved over to his neighbours’ house in Robertsbridge, near Hastings, and began ripping their tiles, too. He has now been jailed for four years and four months.
Neighbour Janice Turner, 66, phoned the police for assistance while she watched Coates destroy her home. Video evidence captured by the authorities upon arrival shows him smashing up the roof of the homes with a hammer.
The seven-year dispute started after a fence panel fell down (Image: Getty)
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After a two-hour stand-off with police, Coates was arrested and taken to jail. After a trial at Lewes Crown Court, he was found guilty of two counts of criminal damage to the properties.
The jury heard the nightmare neighbour had caused £200,000 worth of damage to both of their homes in just two hours.
Nearby residents expressed the wider effect his actions had on the community, branding Coates as “one of the worst neighbours in Britain”.
Ben Williams KC, who sentenced Coates, branded him as a “human wrecking ball”, describing the destruction of the properties as a clear “revenge attack”. He added how the neighbours face a “devastating” impact.
The court heard that Miss Turner now suffers from an “anxiety response” every time she hears crockery smash. The neighbour added that the last seven years living next to Coates had been increasingly stressful, resulting in her being too upset to sit in court for the sentencing.
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Miss Turner explained she was “crying” and feeling “very frightened”. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was extremely distressed,” she said.
The incident took place on June 10 last year, concluding a long-running dispute between the two homes after a fence panel fell.
The two neighbours disagreed over where the boundary was when a new fence separating their two gardens was erected.
In addition to the prison sentence, Coates was ordered to pay a £475,000 bill, which resulted in him selling his home to pay for it. This covered the victims’ legal fees and the damage he caused to their property.