A COMPANY boss tried to strangle his next door neighbour and slammed a gate on to his Jaguar during a bust-up over their shared driveway, a court heard.
Trevor Hollisey, 72, allegedly attacked his neighbours Neil and Michelle Ford when they returned from a holiday with their 19-year-old daughter Sophie while he was pressure washing his drive.
His wife Jennifer Hollisey, now 80, is said to have “stomped” outside to join in the row, and hit allegedly hit Mr Ford, knocking off his glasses.
Jennifer then allegedly slapped a mobile phone out of Sophie’s hand as she was filming the scene in Bressingham, Norfolk.
Ipswich magistrates heard how Mr and Mrs Ford had an easement allowing them to drive across the lower part of Mr and Mrs Hollisey’s drive to access their detached house which they bought for £672,000 in September 2021.
But things quickly escalated after Mrs Ford jumped out of the car on the afternoon of December 20, 2024, and allegedly asked her neighbour to move out of the way so she could open the gate to her home.
RAPE HORROR
Homeless man, 43, raped vulnerable girl, 15, after luring her into tent
AND THEY KICK OFF
Moment Cheltenham punters brawl in bar with wild punches thrown
Mr Hollisey who runs an Essex-based bathroom and kitchen company with his wife, carried on with his spraying, and Mrs Ford moved his wheelbarrow to allow her husband to drive through their gate.
CCTV and mobile phone footage played in court showed Mr Hollisey objecting to his wheelbarrow being moved, calling Mr Ford “a f***ing moron”, and saying: “I am busy, can’t you see that. Are you f***ing stupid”.
As the pensioner slammed the gate shut, Sophie who was filming on her phone can be heard yelling: “If you damage my car, I will genuinely hurt you”.
Mr Hollisey responded by saying: “You stupid little cow… You’re as bad as your mother.”
Mrs Ford told the court that she opened the gate again, and claimed that Mr Hollisey then shut it, so it hit the side and wing mirror of her husband’s Jaguar F-Pace, causing £1,363 of damage.
She denied Mr Hollisey’s claims that she had pushed the gate into his legs and then pushed it onto the car herself, implying that she was responsible for any damage caused.
Footage also showed Mr Hollisey and Mr Ford appearing to push each other, and Mr Hollisey seeming to grab at his neck.
Mr Hollisey denies assault by beating of Mr and Mrs Ford, and intentional strangulation of Mr Ford, and causing criminal damage to the Jaguar.
His wife denies assault by beating of Neil and Sophie Ford, and causing £3.99 of damage to her mobile phone screen protecter.
The court was told how there had been “a long running dispute” between the two couples over Mr and Mrs Ford’s decision to install a set of gates on their boundary which opened up on to the Holliseys’ driveway.
Mrs Ford told the court how the incident happened when they returned at 3.30pm after “a few days vacation away”, and pulled up on to the private cul-de-sac leading to a development of four modern homes where they lived.
She said: “Mr Hollisey was pressure washing in front of our gates so we stopped further back, and I got out to open the gate.
“He was in front of the gate and I couldn’t open it with the wheelbarrow there with him.
“I went to open the gate again and in the meantime my husband got out. Mr Hollisey was being quite abusive, and shouting: ‘Don’t push me, don’t f***ing push me”, and waving his pressure gun around.”
Mrs Ford continued: “I went and opened the gate again, and went back to move the barrow, and while the barrow was being moved, he slammed the gate shut. I opened the gate and told Neil to get in the car and bring it in.
“He pushed the gate and hit the mirror and the side of the car. I saw the car had been damaged and told my daughter to photograph it.
“Mrs Hollisey then came stomping down the drive, wagging her finger in my face.
“Mrs Hollisey turned round and whacked Sophie’s hand, sending her phone flying to the floor.”
Describing the effect of the incident on her, Mrs Ford said she now felt uncomfortable going out the front of her house in case she saw the couple watching her from a bedroom window if she went out to the shops.
She said: “It’s 15 months since it happened and it has played heavily. It has affected us. That was our dream home.
“We worked hard to get that house, but I don’t want to live there anymore.”
Mrs Ford denied a suggestion by the Holliseys’ barrister Joseph McKenna that she “was up for a row that day”
Giving evidence, Mr Ford told how he got out of his car as he feared Mr Hollisey was “squaring up” to his wife and yelling abuse with “his fists cocked ready to go”.
When he got back into the car to drive through the gate, he said Mr Hollisey hit the gate on the car causing damage, and saw Mrs Hollisey slap the phone out of his daughter’s hand
He said: “I felt a whack on my face and my glasses went. Mrs Hollisey had hit me. I stood up and I then had Mr Hollisey grabbing me around my throat in a strangling fashion with a thumb around one side and fingers around the other.
“It was extremely tight and prevented breathing. I wasn’t going to stand and be strangled so I grabbed his jumper and pushed him backwards.”
Mr Ford said he had moderate haemophilia which meant it extremely dangerous for him if he got his head knocked.
He said he had to immediately inject himself to prevent bleeding after the incident.
The trial continues.
Read the full article here