A rich landowner has been accused of taking revenge on his poorer neighbour by constructing an 8ft high wall of hay and straw bales in order to block the picturesque view of the roaming fields. Stephen Bett, a former Police and Crime Commissioner, created the barrier after 95 leylandii trees which he planted earlier were torn down by an unknown person at night.
The long line of giant round bales placed on top of each other close to his boundary covers the entire 60ft width of the back garden of his neighbour Maxine Turner’s bungalow. The wall has deprived Mrs Turner, 78, of the view she previously had of the horses in Mr Bett’s parkland meadow in front of his 18th century mansion in Thornham, Norfolk.
Her son John Turner, 50, who lives with his mother as her carer during the week accused Mr Bett of putting up the bales as “an act of spite”.
