Undercurrent of violence disrupts tranquil village

SIX YEARS ago, Addlestone was the kind of village in Surrey where neighbours chatted idly over the garden fence and were always pleasant to each other.

It was definitely not the kind of place where people attacked each other with garden forks, poured weedkiller on each other's lawns, and wrote holiday postcards to their neighbours' dead wives.

Then Christopher Fulke-Greville moved into the neighbourhood with his second-hand cars. At first, the neighbours were merely annoyed. But as the disturbances got worse, the local authority was called in.

The matter came to a head when Mr Fulke-Greville, 41, drove up to his house in Liberty Road, and told Henry George, 79, not to bother rubbing down the paintwork on his car. Magistrates at Chertsey heard that the car had previously been damaged, and that Mr George was told not to bother because it would be damaged again. He was also alleged to have told him: 'I'm going to burn your house down.'

Claire Gibbons, for the prosecution, said Mr George then picked up a garden fork and shook it at Mr Fulke-Greville, saying: 'You'll get some of this.' It was alleged that Mr George then received injuries to the head after a scuffle between the two. Cedric Fawssett, 53, appeared on the scene carrying a piece of wood, but retreated when a brick was thrown at him, Mrs Gibbons said.

It was also alleged that Mr George's lawn had weedkiller poured over it and that someone had sent a holiday postcard to his dead wife.

Two of the three neighbours appeared before magistrates yesterday with signs of their injuries. Mr George had cuts to his forehead and black eyes, and Mr Fulke-Greville had a cut on his face. Mr Fulke-Greville is charged with grievous bodily harm, threatening criminal damage and unlawful violence, and was granted bail to appear before the court on 25 February. The other two men admitted causing a breach of the peace and agreed to be bound over for 12 months.