Blogger who branded ‘Townie’ couple who moved into Lake District hamlet ‘liars, thieves and bullies’ in a row over village green is hit with £80,000 bill after losing court battle
- Bridget Kelly and Richard Wozniak moved to Rosgill in Lake District six years ago
- There is a dispute over whether they have ‘colonised’ a small patch of grass
- They were branded ‘thieves and bullies’ in a blog by neighbour Chloe Randall
- But now the couple have won a libel case, meaning Ms Randall must pay £80k
A rural blogger who branded a ‘townie’ couple who moved into her Lake District hamlet ‘thieves and bullies’ in a row over the village green has been hit with an £80,000 bill after losing a court fight with them.
Bridget Kelly and Richard Wozniak retired from their professional lives in the south to the 50-strong village of Rosgill in 2015, transforming their three-bedroom cottage Abbott House from a ramshackle wreck into their ‘dream home’.
Dr Wozniak, a former dentist, developed his passion for wildlife photography, while Ms Kelly, an ex-accountant, took up bell-ringing at a local church and became involved in staging a nearby village pantomime as the couple toiled away on their house revamp.
But within two years of moving into their new home, they were at the centre of a local row over the public’s right to park and drive around a small triangular patch of grass and track in front of their house.
Neighbour Chloe Randall insisted the patch of grass – which the incoming couple say they own – is a ‘village green’ which residents of Rosgill and surrounding villages had been ‘accustomed to using…for hundreds of years.’
She went on to set up an online blog titled ‘Concerned of Rosgill’, on which the couple said she branded them ‘townies’ and accused them of being ‘bullies, thieves and liars’ in the row over the green.
The retired couple went on to sue Ms Randall for libel over the posts in London’s High Court and today were awarded damages and costs of up to £81,000 from their neighbour by Mr Justice Soole.
‘All we wanted – and still want – is to be left in peace to enjoy our property,’ Ms Kelly told the judge.
She added that the blog campaign ‘made me feel like a prisoner in my own house’.
A ‘Townie’ couple have won libel damages after being branded ‘thieves and bullies’ in a row over the village green
Former accountant Bridget Kelly (left), who moved in with her partner Richard Wozniak six years ago, has won her libel battle against neighbour Chloe Randall (right)
Ms Randall, an administrator and woollen tie maker, denied libel, accusing the couple in court of ‘years of harassment of members of the village and beyond’ in what she termed ‘The Battle for Rosgill Green’.
But the couple were awarded £15,000 in libel damages, plus up to £66,000 in legal costs, after the judge found Ms Randall had libelled them as ‘liars, thieves and bullies’ in a blog post from April 2019.
The court heard that Ms Kelly and Dr Wozniak previously lived in Hampshire, where Dr Wozniak had his private dental practice, before setting himself up as a wildlife photographer, venturing to remote areas of Africa to snap exotic animals.
Following his retirement and with Ms Kelly, who had worked for Price Waterhouse Cooper before qualifying as an accountant, working part time, they sold up and eventually moved to Rosgill in 2015 to pursue their country dreams.
Ms Kelly told the court that they had only been in the north for a matter of months when friction began with campaigners over public use of the land the couple claim is theirs.
They were accused of having ‘colonised’ the ‘green’ and endured a number of incidents including people mowing the patch, blocking their access, and driving a 4×4 over it, she told Mr Justice Soole.
Ms Kelly added that she and her partner were also told they ‘would be dealt with by ‘community law’ and that we would not be made welcome in the community’.
The bad feeling over the ‘green’ came to a head with Ms Randall’s online blog, set up in 2017, on which the couple claimed she posted a series of nine libelous posts in 2019.
One posting referred to ‘townies’ turning the countryside into a ‘retirement park’ and suggested that the couple did not understand the alleged long use of the patch as a community space.
Dr Wozniak and Ms Kelly complained that they had been accused online of stealing land, ‘brainwashing’ a vulnerable local into their camp, acting like ‘liars, thieves and bullies’ and ‘spitefully’ attempting to block the track.
‘The defamatory statements posted by Ms Randall have made me personally feel humiliated, embarrassed and harassed to the extent that they have actually ruined my life,’ said Ms Kelly.
‘Abbott House was very much our ‘dream home’ but the activities of Ms Randall have made me feel like a prisoner in my own house.
‘At times I have been too frightened to go outside for fear that Ms Randall or one of her supporters might be there.
‘Whereas I was once eager to engage in community activities, I now think twice before joining in for fear that other attendees have seen the comments made about us, and view us in a negative light.’
Residents had claimed the couple, who moved in six years ago, regularly storm out of their renovated cottage to confront anyone walking or parked on the disputed plot (pictured). Ms Kelly insists she had set her heart on immersing herself in community life
The land in dispute is the triangle of grass at the centre of this picture which villagers say has been used as common land for ‘hundreds of years’, but Kelly and Wozniak believe they own
Ms Kelly, described as a ‘gentler personality’ than her forthright partner, had set her heart on immersing herself in community life, said the judge – including ‘throwing herself’ into the local Brampton Pantomime.
Ms Kelly said she felt her life was ‘ruined’ after being targeted online, with her rural dream ending up a nightmare.
‘Her distress at the course of events in this dispute and its effect on their enjoyment of their retirement home was evident and sincere,’ he said.
Dr Wozniak added that he became depressed, lost weight and couldn’t sleep due to the effects of the online campaign, Mr Justice Soole said.
The campaign left him and his partner ‘isolated, shunned and excluded by a number of people who were formerly friendly neighbours and tradespeople’.
The judge accepted that Ms Randall’s website had only extended to an audience of around 50, but added: ‘I weigh the very fact of its locality and the likely consequent intensity of its effect on the publishees and the claimants.
‘This is then magnified by Ms Randall’s persistence in pursuing these allegations through the trial.’
He described all three involved in the case as honest witnesses but said Ms Randall had allowed her ‘passion’ for rural affairs to get the better of her.
‘On the central issues of this case I have concluded that her passion for Rosgill and its perceived rights and traditions has on occasions overtaken her judgment and thus allowed her to make statements about the integrity of the claimants which cannot be sustained.’
The judge gave judgment in the couple’s favour in relation to six of nine blog posts they had complained about, including the central post which branded them ‘thieves, liars and bullies’ who had ‘spitefully’ run a campaign to ‘steal’ land.
He added that the case had been especially hard to unravel due to the bitterness of the dispute, the sheer number of the incidents involved and in many cases ‘their relative triviality’.
‘It is evident that on each side these incidents have been turned over and discussed remorselessly both before and during the litigation and that accounts have unsurprisingly become confused and coloured.’
In her defence, Ms Randall said the ‘Concerned of Rosgill’ blog developed in tandem with her efforts to have the track alongside the green designated a public bridleway and to boost the campaign in ‘the battle for Rosgill Green’.
She said the area has been used by the whole community for generations and ‘is widely known as Rosgill Village Green’, telling the judge: ‘The village has for hundreds of years been accustomed to using this piece of ground…for access, farming, leisure and commercial purposes.’
HM Land Registry documents show the couple does not own the ‘village green’ (pictured). Records show Ms Kelly and her partner own land to the left and right of the disputed land
At the time the blog was set up, she was pursuing a right of way application with the local council, which ultimately led to the track alongside the green being declared a bridleway, she said.
She had intended the blog to ‘remind the community of the lengths to which the claimants have demonstrated that they are prepared to go in pursuit of their determination to have exclusive use of the disputed ground.’
And she said the couple’s exclusion from parts of village life – including not being invited to a local councillor’s Christmas party – were nothing to do with the blog posts.
She defended the libel claim on the basis of ‘truth’, that the couple were ‘liars’ and ‘thieves’ in their repeated assertions that they had exclusive possession of the land.
But the judge rejected the defence, finding that there was no dishonesty involved in the couple’s claims to the land, which he said were based on their honest belief that it is theirs.
‘There is simply no basis for the contention that the claimants have stolen or tried to steal any part of the disputed area,’ he said.
‘On all the evidence I have heard and seen there is no basis to conclude that the claimants or either of them have bullied anyone in this matter.
‘On each side, the conduct is explained by strong and honestly held views as to ownership and rights.
‘As the evidence vividly demonstrates, this all makes for a very unpleasant state of affairs in the village and by the green in particular.
‘However I see no basis to conclude that the claimants have sought to harm, intimidate or coerce or that their conduct has had that effect.’
Ms Randall must now pay a total of £15,000 libel damages to Dr Wozniak and Ms Kelly – on top of picking up a legal costs’ bill of around £66,000, with £50,000 to pay up front.
The legal status of the ‘green’ is still in question, with a local landowning estate disputing that Dr Wozniak and Ms Kelly own it, the court heard.
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