An ex-champion golfer has been given the right to take a seven-year legal dispute with tenants in upmarket lodges on land she owns to the Court of Appeal.
Vivien Saunders OBE, who won the Women’s British Open in 1977, had claimed the 20 occupants were in breach of their leases, which could have led to them forfeiting their properties.
They argued the complaint was a cynical attempt to get them evicted so that she could go ahead with a £20 million deal with a developer to build a residential estate on the land in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.
In a withering judgement issued in October, High Court judge Karen Walden-Smith in October dismissed Ms Saunders’ claim and branded her ‘manipulative’, ‘bullying’ and ‘abusive’.
She also stated the plaintiff had at times ‘sought to deliberately mislead the court’.
But Ms Saunders – who faced estimated legal costs of £1 million – has now been given permission to battle on after Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Arnold concluded: ‘Notwithstanding the submissions of the Respondents, [the] appeal has a real prospect of success’.
Speaking after the ruling, she told the Mail: ‘I’ve got no comment to make except that one of the grounds was the behaviour of the [High Court] judge.’
But occupants of the £250,000 log chalets at Abbotsley Country Homes were left devastated at the news.
Vivien Saunders OBE, who won the Women’s British Openin 1977, has been given permission for her case against resident of lodges at Abbotsley Country Homes in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, to be heard by the Court of Appeal
Gini Melesi, a 57-year-old cancer nurse, was ‘absolutely shocked’ that the appeal had been allowed as the High Court judge had ‘wrapped it all up’.
‘She pointed out that Vivien had lied in court. We are all surprised and all the legal people really are just as surprised,’ she said.
‘Some people have used all their savings. Some have come out of retirement and gone back to work.
‘That’s the stark fact of it – and we can’t even sell the places to get money.
‘This is what she does with every single court case – she just fights on until people give up.’
Marketing consultant Ross Warren, 34, whose father Neil committed suicide two years ago during a separate dispute with Ms Saunders, said it was ‘disappointing and distressing’.
‘I’d hoped she could gain some perspective and let it go and enjoy the rest of her life because she’s got the money to do it,’ he added.
‘But she doesn’t want to do that. She literally can’t stop.’
Ms Saunders 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. A High Court judge ruled against her in October but the Court of Appeal judge opened the door for a further hearing
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
The chalets are on land 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.
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 under their 125-year leases 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 another hearing at the court on the same issues.
Ms Saunders won the Women’s British Open in 1977 and qualified as a solicitor in the 1980s
In her October ruling, 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.
He was also ‘suffering from dementia and that would mean that he both suffers from memory loss and is very open to suggestion’.
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”.’
The log chalets are next door to a disused golf course owned by Ms Saunders that she wants to turn into a residential development
Occupants of the lodges were jubilant at the High Court ruling – but have been left devastated at the prospect of a further hearing at the higher court
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.’
During the opening submissions for the most recent High Court case earlier this year, the judge was told 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 – who has dismissed the allegation she wanted to reclaim the land the lodges stand on for commercial purposes as ‘utter nonsense’ – was made an OBE in the 1998 New Years Honours list for services to women’s golf.
Ms Saunders, also outside Cambridge County Court, was described by High Court judge Karen Walden-Smith as being ‘manipulative’, ‘bullying’ and ‘abusive’
In 2015, she stood against then Prime Minister David Cameron in Witney in the 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’.
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 an agreement for water to be supplied and they would be charged according to meter readings.
Richard Bottomley, representing Pheasantland, argued in his submission: ‘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 for ‘maximum daily demand’ charges.
The lodge owners say they have already spent £500,000 on defending themselves and – with many old or retired – may be unable to raise the £125,000 they need to have legal representation at the Court of Appeal.
They have now set up a crowdfunding page at https://gofund.me/9f442b45c in the hope that members of the public will step in.
Ms Saunders’ legal advisers, Chattertons, said: ‘At this stage we do not intend to make any statement.’