A company boss tried to strangle his next door neighbour and slammed a gate on to his Jaguar F-Pace car during a bust-up over their shared driveway, a court heard today.
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, 80, is said to have ‘stomped’ outside to join in the row.
She then allegedly hit Mr Ford, knocking off his glasses, before slapping 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 a dispute 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.
Mr Hollisey, who runs an Essex-based bathroom and kitchen company with his wife, carried on with his spraying, the court heard, while Mrs Ford moved his wheelbarrow to allow her husband, who has haemophilia, to drive through their gate.
CCTV and mobile phone footage which was played in court showed Mr Hollisey, wearing wellington boots, 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.’
Tempers are said to have flared at the detached houses in the Norfolk village of Bressingham
As the pensioner slammed the gate shut, Sophie, who was filming on her phone, could 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, 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 the Fords’ decision to install a set of gates on their boundary which opened on to the Holliseys’ driveway.
Trevor Hollisey, 72, and wife Jennifer, 80, arriving at Ipswich Magistrates Court today
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 immediately in front of the gate with his back turned to me, so I stood there for a second and he didn’t move. I asked him to open the gate and let us on to our drive but he ignored me.
‘There was a wheelbarrow in the way, so I went to move it towards his drive. Mr Hollisey turned round and started pulling the wheelbarrow across the driveway in front of the gate. He was in front of the gate and I couldn’t open it with the wheelbarrow there and 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.
‘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.
‘By now, we had the car on the drive but Mrs Hollisey had hold of the gate to keep it open. She was standing in front of the gate so it couldn’t be closed. She turned round and whacked Sophie’s hand, sending her phone flying to the floor.
Neil Ford is said to have been throttled by his neighbour, Trevor Hollisey, during the dispute over use of a driveway
Mr Ford’s wife, Michelle, was also at court today
‘There was some exchange but we couldn’t close the gate. We told Sophie to go up the garden and call the police because it was not calming down at all.’
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 Mr Hollisey and her husband had to watch 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 and claimed he had to immediately inject himself to prevent bleeding after the incident.
The trial continues.
