A former champion golfer’s seven-year, million-pound legal dispute with upmarket tenants on land she owns has ended in defeat, with a High Court judge issuing a withering ruling that criticised her manipulative behaviour and bullying manner.
Vivien Saunders OBE, who won the Women’s British Open in 1977, accused the occupants of 20 luxury lodges of breaching the conditions of their 125-year leases, which could have led to the forfeiture of their properties.
She also claimed they had illegally tapped into her water supply.
They argued the complaints were a ruse to get them evicted so that she could build a residential estate on the land in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, in a £20 million deal with a developer.
The bitter dispute saw Ms Saunders convicted of common assault against one lodge owner, while the court heard another committed suicide because of the stress of ongoing issues with her.
Judge Karen Walden-Smith has now issued a judgement in which she dismissed Ms Saunders’ claims and described her as ‘manipulative’, ‘bullying’ and ‘abusive’, while at times she ‘deliberately sought to mislead the court’.
Explaining the ‘unusually lengthy’ 144-page judgement was needed to deal with ‘the many allegations and issues’, she said: ‘The outcome is that the claimant has failed to succeed in her two claims, which are dismissed in their entirety.’
The jubilant residents said in a statement: ‘This judgement brings to an end years of intimidation and unrest by an aggressive neighbour and it is hoped that life for those remaining at these luxury lodges can return to a level of peace and tranquillity, which they originally bought into.’
Vivien Saunders OBE, who won the Women’s British Open in 1977, accused the occupants of 20 luxury lodges of breaching the conditions of their 125-year leases, which could have led to the forfeiture of their properties and tapping into her water. A High Court judge ruled against her
Ms Saunders will have to pick up the legal bill for all parties, which is expected to run to more than a million pounds.
But the lodge owners’ joy was tempered by the fact that she may appeal against the ruling.
Marketing consultant Ross Warren, 34, whose father Neil committed suicide two years ago, told the Mail: ‘It’s positive that she’s been seen for who she is, finally. But she will try to appeal it.’
John Gearing, 77, a chartered surveyor, added: ‘We have to say that the judge bent over backwards to ensure there weren’t any gaps in the law to use for appeal. But she’s a very crafty lady.’
Ms Saunders was approached about the ruling and the various allegations made against her but said: ‘I’ve got no comment.’
Earlier this year she insisted suggestions she was trying to reclaim the land for commercial purposes were ‘complete and utter nonsense’.
The land in question is home to 20 log chalets worth around £250,000 each at Abbotsley Country Homes in St Neots, next door to the disused 200-acre Abbotsley Golf Course, which Ms Saunders owns and wants to convert into a residential estate. Next to the site is Eynesbury Manor, where she lives.
The land was bought in three tranches between 1986 and 1991 by the golfer, who qualified as a solicitor 43 years ago and has been a member of Mensa for half a century.
The occupants of the 20 lodges, worth around £250,000 each, claimed Mr Saunders wanted to evict them so that she could take advantage of a £20 million deal to develop the site and surrounding land
Legal submissions to the High Court, sitting in London initially and later at Cambridge County Court, heard that she and her company, Abbotsley Ltd, claimed the defendants trespassed on her land to tap into the water supply.
They said the issue dated back to a water pipe that should have been connected to the mains when the lodges were built but was instead hooked up to her supply without her knowledge.
The initial disagreement subsequently mushroomed into claims the lodge owners were breaching rules that specify they can only live in them for 11 months of the year and must own primary residences elsewhere.
Other allegations included one lodge being used for ‘commercial purposes’, some having large sheds, machinery being used to drill a borehole and incorrect insurance.
A previous High Court judge dismissed calls for the chalet owners to forfeit the lease and for the land to be repossessed due to the alleged breaches. The decision was upheld at an appeal – leading to the latest hearing on the same issues.
In the latest judgement, Judge Walden-Smith said there was no basis for the allegation of ‘purloining’ of water via a clandestine pipe, while the claimed breaches of lease conditions were unfounded or trivial.
She also dismissed a claim that residents had trespassed on woodland known as Jenny Wisson Wood on the grounds that it was open to the public.
Judge Walden-Smith noted the only lodge owner to support Ms Saunders allegations had signed a document ‘blind’ as he didn’t see the contents.
Lodge owners (left to right) Paul Brennan, Lance Honeywell, Gini Melesi, Carol Berwick and John Gearing outside Cambridge County Court, where the High Court was sitting
Ms Saunders, also outside Cambridge County Court, was described by High Court judge Karen Walden-Smith as being ‘manipulative’, ‘bullying’ and ‘abusive’
He was also ‘suffering from dementia and that would mean that he both suffers from memory loss and is very open to suggestions’.
She also referred to details heard in court showing ‘how manipulative Ms Saunders is and how she makes up evidence to support her false allegations against the individual defendants’.
The judge added it was ‘shocking’ that ‘seriously abusive behaviour from Ms Saunders towards the owners and occupiers of the lodges appears to have been occurring 14 years ago’.
At one point in her judgement, she stated: ‘Extraordinarily, she [Ms Saunders] described the room which holds the metal filing cabinets of documents at Abbotsley as “the Fred West suite”.
‘When asked why she had said that, she said that she thought it was “a bit naughty”.’
Ms Saunders was convicted of common assault in 2023 and lost an appeal against the conviction in October last year after she drove her Mercedes 4×4 into lodge owner Jill Beresford-Ambridge, who was on crutches at the time.
Magistrates at the trial in Peterborough and a retrial in Cambridge heard she nudged Ms Beresford-Ambridge with the vehicle after driving to the site when another chalet owner complained to her about gardening being carried out by neighbours.
Speaking after the later hearing, Ms Saunders raged: ‘If I want to play an international golf match in America in two years’ time, I may not be able to go. The whole ramifications of a criminal conviction are disastrous.’
Ms Saunders won the Women’s British Open in 1977 and qualified as a solicitor in the 1980s
During the opening submissions earlier this year, the court heard that she was the previously unnamed ‘neighbour’ referred to in an inquest in December last year where Neil Warren, 70, took his own life in April 2023 following a separate long-running dispute.
A High Court injunction prevented him and other residents from photographing or videoing land surrounding their homes and he became ‘obsessed with not stepping out of line’.
Coroner Caroline Jones returned a verdict of suicide after hearing the case had a ‘significant and damaging bearing’ on the retired businessman’s mental health and he lived in constant fear of its consequences, including possibly leaving him bankrupt.
Ms Saunders had also assaulted him in May 2020 by spraying water on him, the inquest heard.
Sporting legend Ms Saunders was made an OBE in the 1998 New Years Honours list for services to women’s golf and stood against then Prime Minister David Cameron in Witney in the 2015 General Election as leader of the Reduce VAT in Sport party.
Her barrister, Kerry Bretherton KC told Judge Walden-Smith that the ‘water dispute’ was just one of the ‘different elements to this case’.
She said: ‘A large part of this case is what I will refer to as very serious anti-social behaviour directed against my client and a long history of acrimony.’
While her client’s two assault convictions couldn’t be changed, she claimed the latest was more about ‘perception’ and followed a ‘long period of lobbying the police’.
Occupants of the lodges were jubilant at the High Court ruling – but fear Ms Saunders will appeal against the decision
Pheasantland – the management company which bought the leasehold for the land for £325,000 in 2017 before selling the rights to lodge owners in 40 shares – plus 14 of the occupants themselves, claimed the stopcock for the water to their homes was repeatedly switched off and the pipe was then damaged by a digger.
They claimed they had a verbal agreement for water to be supplied and they would be charged according to meter readings.
In their submission, they argued: ‘It is not credible that a company would construct log chalets without a potable water connection, without which they would not have been saleable.’
They also claimed to have invoices showing they were billed for the water between 2011 and 2017 but problems began in 2018 when they received a huge bill and Ms Saunders started charging them a ten per cent ‘management fee’.