Owner of 'UK's biggest man cave' told to stop harassing neighbours with CCTV
A millionaire who illegally built "Britain's best man cave" - and served time in jail for refusing to have it knocked down - has been ordered to stop harassing neighbours with parking and CCTV.
Graham Wildin, 70, must stop causing a nuisance and annoyance to his neighbours, a judge said. He must have no more than two of his vehicles parked on the street and must have no CCTV vans, the injunction points out.
The accountant has continuously defied court orders to knock down his 10,000sq/ft leisure complex near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, where his neighbours say he's been making their lives a misery. The row has been ongoing since 2014 when Mr Wildin built the complex, which includes a bowling alley, casino and a cinema at the back of his home, without planning permission.
Graham Wildin had a leisure centre built in his back garden (SWNS)Mr Wildin was locked up last year for failing to comply with a court order to decommission the building and has lost a string of other court cases over the issue. The pensioner's neighbours alleged he is taking his frustration with the council out on them by clogging up the street's parking spaces with his fleet of classic cars. These include a grey Bentley Turbo R, a yellow convertible Jenson-Healey sports car and a burgundy Austin 1100.
But Mr Wildin was served the interim injunction at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court today. Gloucestershire Police applied for this after noticing "a clear evidence of a pattern of behaviour".
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An aerial view of Graham Wildin’s ‘man cave’ (grey roof) (SWNS)Deputy Judge Coughlin put the interim injunction in place ahead of a full two-day hearing, which is expected to be held later in the year at the same court.
Neighbours have long accused the 70-year-old of harassment, having CCTV covering the street and inconsiderate parking of his vehicles. Speaking previously, one elderly lady living on the road said she was unable to use her drive anymore because two of Wildin's cars were parked either side of the entrance, making it too difficult for her to get out.
The 70-year-old man served six weeks in jail for repeatedly refusing to knock down his extension (SWNS)She said: "I can get in but I can't get out. If he moved them it would be okay. I tried to speak to his son and asked him to ask if the cars could be moved. He said he would but from that day on he hasn't even looked at me. Why should I have to move my car? It's very upsetting because he's taking it out on us."
Another neighbour said: "Cars appear in our spaces when we're out at work. Wildin has cameras looking out onto the street to spot when we move our cars out of our spaces.
Mr Wildin, a millionaire, had several cars parked near his property but this will change due to the injunction (SWNS)"It's very intimidating. No one likes living here when you come back after work and feel deflated pulling into the street. I don't understand why he feels he needs to make his neighbours suffer."
Another said: "He sits there watching the cameras and plays cat and mouse with his collection of classic cars. He is a bloody nightmare and he is making people's lives hell.
The leisure centre Graham Wildin has built for himself and his family in the back garden of his house (SWNS)"The illegal sports centre doesn't worry me but he's blaming us neighbours for the council's actions so he's decided to cause parking mayhem."
A fourth resident added: "The parking here is terrible and he is causing a lot of aggro. He's doing it on purpose too. Nothing has changed in the two years I have lived here and something should be done about it. The complex shouldn't have been built. The law is law. Why should he get away with it?"
In the cinema in the home (SWNS)Mr Wildin's first of five court defeats came in September 2018 when a High Court injunction was handed down initially giving him until the end of April 2020 to remove the building - which features a bowling alley, casino and a cinema. He failed to comply with the injunction and was given a suspended sentence in June 2021.
He then lost an appeal against the sentence at the Court of Appeal that November and he was ordered to demolish the complex by March 10 2022. But when Wildin's defiance continued, the six-week suspended sentence for contempt of court was activated on August 13 2022. Once released from HMP Cardiff, he was given 18 weeks to "soft strip" the interior of the building to make it unusable. That deadline expired in early January and his sentence was later upheld and he was ordered to pay £9,962 in costs to the district council.
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It has a casino too (SWNS)During the latest hearing, Mr Wildin told the court: "I don't swear, I never shout. It's all wrong. Apart from one occasion I've never blocked drives parking cars."
He showed the judge an aerial photo, adding "more than half the cars on the street aren't mine. The reason I had to have CCTV in the road was to check on my cars. The neighbours covered it, so I put taller units in. I get on with the neighbours, it's only a band of six of them who've come together against me."
The application for an injunction over alleged anti-social behaviour has been made together by police and the district council.
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