2023-11-30 17:21:01
Ron is at his wit’s end. Aged 88, the retired farmer was ordered to pay a fine of more than €3,700 for having demolished part of a wall… which he himself built 40 years ago on his farm. He says he is ready to end his life in prison so as not to pay this sum of money.
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His “living nightmare” has lasted for six years. It was in 2017 that he learned that his wall was deemed “historic” given that it was in a conservation area. So he needed a permit to destroy it. Refusing his fine, Ron missed the appeal deadline and appeared in court several times. In October, he learned that he faced up to 45 days in prison if he did not build the wall and pay his fine.
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“Defending myself and being willing to go to jail is the only way I can see anyone coming to their senses.” If going to prison is the last thing I do on this Earth, I will do it to stop this. It’s madness,” he growls at the Mirror.
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He details his concern: “I don’t know who reported us to the municipality, but I had a letter saying that we had broken the law by digging a conservation area. I knew nothing regarding a conservation area and neither did my two brothers. Apparently the whole of Milborne Harbor became one in 1988. We rebuilt that wall in 1973. They tried to claim that we had demolished a historic wall (…) My argument is that if that wall was ours in 1973, it’s our wall now. Why are they making such a fuss? All we did was dismantle part of it to make an entrance to our property.”
Ron is therefore categorical: he will not pay the more than 3,700 euros that he is being asked to pay. However, Somerset Council also stands firm and believes it is in the public interest to pursue the case once morest the 88-year-old farmer.
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