A squatter who has described himself as a "land pirate" has been blocked in an empty farm due to rotting animal food. Former nurse Neil Parker moved on to a farm which he insists was "abandoned" a year ago.
Since then, he has been locked in a battle with locals in Ceredigion, Wales, who claim he shouldn't be there. One family insists they have staked a claim on his new home with some extreme measures take against the 60-year-old, reports the Mirror.
One aggrieved resident was said to have moved Neil's car, his caravan and blocked access to the supposedly derelict property with 20 bales of raw silage - pickled pasture grass used as food for farm animals. And the tension between Neil and the residents appears to be escalating further.
The avid squatter, who has spent years building a bank of hundreds of derelict buildings in the county, claims if they have no legal owner, they can be reclaimed by the public. He even has a website about his past and present living situations.
Neil said: "My position is very clear. If they have no proof of ownership, then I don't intend to leave. Their interest in this land only seems to have been sparked by my presence. In the absence of evidence, they seem to think that force and bullying will achieve the desired result."
In one incident, Mr Parker was angrily confronted by a local farmer after he laid claim to the land. The nearby resident claimed he had caused "misery" for her and the village. One local even claims to have presented a will from 1969 that states the land, currently occupied by the squatter, was left to them by their grandfather. He, in rebuttal, claims this is not evidence of ownership and the family hasn't fully processed the documentation required with the Land Registry.
Mr Parker claims intimidation has come his way, including horns from cars being sounded as he worked on the site and villagers filming and abusing him. The land pirate says he had a year of being "essentially undisturbed" before an eviction attempt by a farmer.
"Without any warning, he removed a caravan, car and other property — causing criminal damage, and blocked any access with 20 bales of rotten silage," he said. "The farmer would get irritable very quickly and was obviously very unhappy – and to be fair they think they're being deprived of something, so it's not unreasonable.
"But I make it clear to landowners to go and get legal advice because what I'm doing is well within the law. People need land and people need properties and those who own them need to be prepared to do the work and put effort into deriving societal benefit from them.
"The reason the adverse possession statute remains is to allow people to take over bits of land that have been abandoned and for good reason – it's there for a purpose."
Mr Parker claims he wants to work on clearing the site to plant trees. The Land Registration Act 2002 states an unlisted site can fall into someone's possession after 12 years if they can demonstrate they are present and working on the land. Squatting entails residing on the land.
A member of the family who say they own the farm says delays with registering at the Land Registry have been a source of anger and that Mr Parker has "no moral conscience". She said: "We are extremely disappointed that this individual has inflicted so much unnecessary stress on us as a family, when we are the lawful owners of the land.
"The land was inherited to me from my grandfather and has been part of our family for generations. It may be unregistered but the title deeds are firmly within our possession. We urge all landowners to be extra vigilant of individuals like Mr Parker, who have no moral conscience and will exploit legal loopholes to gain possession of property which is rightly owned by law-abiding citizens."
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