Black Country's biggest lottery winner takes neighbour to court - over 3ft strip of land
A former lorry driver who won £15.5 million on the national lottery is taking his neighbour to court in a bid to settle a bitter boundary dispute – for a sum of a few thousand pounds.
Tom Naylor, who grew up in Wednesbury, became the Black Country's biggest lottery winner when he scooped the bumper jackpot in 2001.
The 58-year-old lavished chunks of his windfall on high powered sports cars and property, but in the past two years he has become embroiled in a row over a 3ft strip of land skirting his giant barn conversion near Wheaton Aston in Staffordshire.
Mr Naylor claims Zillar Rahman, who owns the Café India restaurant to the south of his property, demolished his boundary fence in April 2012 and tampered with a manhole cover that sealed a foul drainage system.
He alleges the damage caused raw sewage to flood into his paddock and down his driveway.
His demands are detailed in a county court claim form.
They include £900 for putting up a new fence, as well as additional costs for repairing the sewer system, putting up a new fence, damages for alleged trespass and all legal costs and fees.
In total Mr Naylor is expecting to recover 'more than £5,000 but not more than £15,000'.
But Mr Rahman has refuted Mr Naylor's claims. He says the multi-millionaire illegally put up the boundary fence in 2012 in a bid to claim land that did not belong to him.
According to Mr Rahman it was Mr Naylor's actions in driving wooden fence posts into the ground that caused the mucky contents from a burst sewage pipe to flood back onto his own land.
The 39-year-old has vowed to fight for the land. He said: "As far as I am concerned the land belongs to me.
"When he put up the fence he moved the posts a few yards onto my land and it caused all the damage to the sewers.
"I had to take it down to get the manhole cover repaired. The job cost me thousands of pounds to fix a problem he caused."
Another neighbour, Chris Rawlins, said official documents from the Land Registry clearly show who owns the disputed territory.
"I have seen the plans and in my opinion they show the land does not belong to Mr Naylor," said the 61-year-old.
"The boundary is a straight line running the length of his property up to Staffordshire Motor Homes. He is trying to say there is a dog leg, but the plans don't show that at all."
In February Mr Naylor, who spent £375,000 on the Acorns Farm property in April 2002, told the Express & Star: "It may look like a straight line on the map, but that's because the drawings are so small.
"I have photographs showing where the original boundary was and the original owner of the land has backed me up." In the claim form Mr Naylor says he has a drawing prepared in March by a chartered surveyors showing the true boundary line between the two properties.
In May the two parties tried to sort out the squabble through mediation, but talks broke down. Mark English from Shakespeares Solicitors, who is representing Mr Naylor, confirmed the claim was now going through the court process.
He declined to comment on the details of the claim.
The case is due to be heard in Stafford County Court early next year.
See also:
£15m Wednesbury Lottery winner in dispute over 3ft strip of land
Lottery winner drops dispute over 3ft-wide strip of land
