Theresa Hamer, also known as Baroness Hamer of Alford, has been ordered to return ancient and irreplaceable flagstones taken from the garden of the country home she had previously sold to Hugh Taylor.
Taylor bought Eastington Hall, near Upton upon Severn, for £3.15m in 1997, but when he moved in he discovered that Baroness Hamer had removed 282 sq yds of valuable York paving stones.
He sued for their return, but, in November last year, Judge Rupert Bursell QC, sitting at Swindon County Court, ordered Baroness Hamer and her husband to pay him damages instead.
However, Taylor has now succeeded in an appeal against that decision, and the Hamers have been ordered to return the stones.
Sedley LJ, who was sitting with Arden LJ and Wall J, said of Baroness Hamer’s behaviour: “Not to put too fine a point on it, it is cheating.”
He continued: “In everyday house purchases, people are entitled to be confident that, unless some different agreement is reached and recorded, the property that is to pass includes its fixtures.”
He said that although the “surreptitious” removal of the flagstones did not amount to “stealing”, there had been a failure to convey to Mr Taylor all that he was entitled to receive.
Taylor v Hamer Court of Appeal (Sedley and Arden LJJ and Wall J) 31 July 2002.
Oliver Ticciati (instructed by Wilmot & Co, of Cirencester) appeared for the appellant; Sara Hargreaves (instructed by Charles Russell, of Cheltenham) appeared for the respondent.
PLS News 6/8/02
