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Neighbourly dispute leads to arrest

Neighbourly dispute leads to arrest

Monday 22 July 2024

Neighbourly dispute leads to arrest

Monday 22 July 2024


Legal investigations are continuing after a dispute between neighbours escalated over the weekend.

An alleged confrontation between Julian Mountain who owns Fort Richmond, and the Allez family who own a neighbouring property built into a bunker adjacent to Fort Richmond, resulted in police being called.

As a result, two people - allegedly Mark and Karen Allez - were arrested.

A spokesperson for Guernsey Police confirmed their involvement in the dispute, while adding that no further details can be released at this stage. 

“On Friday night police attended a property near Fort Richmond, St Saviour," explained the spokesperson.

"Two individuals were arrested on suspicion of assault. They were bailed that same night and enquiries are ongoing.”

Fort Richmond for sale

Pictured: Fort Richmond was listed for sale for £1.5million in 2019. It sold for £1,000,000.

Fort Richmond sits above the coastline in St Saviour, overlooking Perelle and Richmond, on Guernsey's west coast.

Once used as barracks during efforts to protect the island from a French invasion, the property sat empty for many years while under States ownership before being sold to Bembridge Ltd in June 2019 for £1million.

The current dispute is said to centre around boundary issues between Fort Richmond itself and Maison de la Guerre.

Fort Richmond is believed to be occupied by Mr Mountain, a director of Bembridge Ltd, while the land where Maison de la Guerre sits is reported to have been in the Allez family for two generations, prior to the Occupation which saw the bunker being built. 

While Fort Richmond was sold to Bembridge Ltd in June 2019, there have also been two other purchases of land 'near Fort Richmond' in recent weeks and months, along with a purchase in April 2019 too. 

As well as police inquiries continuing into the events on Friday night, there is also an ongoing civil court case aimed at establishing where the rightful boundary is between the two properties.

Fort Richmond

Pictured: Records of land sales in the area show that at least three parcels of land near Fort Richmond, as well as the Fort itself, have changed hands over the past five years.

Deputy Andy Taylor recently tried to clear some of the confusion around this with a Rule 14 question to Policy and Resources on the matter.

He asked whether the States had ever claimed ownership of Maison de la Guerre before it sold Fort Richmond to Bembridge Ltd.

In response, P&R - which has responsibility for all States owner property - said that the conveyance of the Fort Richmond site, prior to the 6 June 2019 sale to Bembridge Ltd, "comprised of all land and buildings on the site in the ownership of the States of Guernsey at that time".

P&R explained that "the northern boundary of Fort Richmond, which runs in an east/west direction, bounds a property known as Patris, which includes a converted bunker now known as Maison de la Guerre.

"The legal boundary bisects the bunker with the larger part being set within the Patris land parcel and the smaller southern part of the bunker set within what had previously been the States of Guernsey land parcel. The ownership of the land parcels, including the legally split ownership of the bunker was a mater of public record prior to the 6th June 2019 conveyance."

Reports elsewhere today have cited maps dating back to 1922 which show the boundary as being adjacent to where the bunker now sits, not through the bunker.

The dispute centres on where that boundary lies and who owns the northern section of the bunker, which is the Allez family home - as well as who owns the path providing access to Maison de la Guerre and Fort Richmond. 

Pictured top: Fort Richmond. 

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Fort Richmond 'under offer'

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