A keen gardener who claims her lawyer ex-boyfriend trashed her flowerbeds after they split up is now suing him in a £200,000 court fight.
Greenfingered Patricia Langley (71), claims that her ex-partner Lucian Milburn, her solicitor, was behind an attack on her Camden garden.
72-year old Mr Milburn denies that he destroyed his former lover’s flowers. She claims that she had lovingly maintained her front garden for over a decade.
But Ms Langley is now suing her ex at Central London County Court for £200,000 over wrongful interference with her plants, restriction of access to the garden and a series of breaches of his obligations as freeholder of the building in which the flat is.
The court heard that the couple had been in a relationship since’many decades’ and that they had purchased a Camden Road flat on the second floor in 2001. Mr Milburn was its freeholder.
They split in 2011. Mr Milburn later moved into another apartment in the basement of his house with his new partner.
Ms Langley states that her ex tried to ban Langley from the communal front yard of the flats in 2015. She soon found flowers and plants that she had grown for years destroyed.
Keen gardener Patricia Langley, 71, (above) claims her lawyer ex-boyfriend trashed her flowerbeds after they split up is now suing him in a £200,000 court fight
Ms Langley claims ex-partner Lucian Milburn, her solicitor, was behind a post-breakup attack on her Camden garden.
“I came out and found that the front garden was a slash & burn, with Mr Milburn’s favourite plants, the peonies, and the geraniums,” she stated.
“All my plants were ripped up and torn apart. Some of them might have even been dug up.
“The plants he loved weren’t touched.” The gardenias were not touched.
‘It wasn’t possible to describe the destruction of a well-tended garden. It was an act in effigy my person.
Although she didn’t accuse him directly of picking up the flowers, she told him she believes he ‘had a good handle’ on the trashing of her plants.
Jonathan Upton, a barrister, suggested that Mr Milburn had made up the allegation about Ms Langley vandalizing the flowers.
It didn’t happen, did? You’ve just made it up, haven’t you? He put it to her.
She replied, “No, I have sworn to the Bible.”
Ms Langley is also seeking damages for alleged breaches by Mr Milburn to her as a freeholder. This makes him her landlord and joint owner of the flat.
After a Christmas storm, the flat was damaged by rainwater and left ‘uninhabitable’, she claims.
She said that she had been without electricity for several months and that Mr Milburn had failed in his duty to maintain and clean the communal areas of her house.
Mr Upton for Mr Milburn said that Mr Milburn denied any breach of his repairing duties and that Ms Langley had never contributed to the maintenance costs.
Lucian Milburn, 72, denies destroying his former lover’s flowers and plants, which she says she had lovingly cultivated in her front garden for more than a decade
He said that it was accepted that she is entitled to some limited compensation for the effects of the storm damage on them, which led to her having temporarily to move out.
He refuted her claim that her kitchen was permanently damaged and that the property was uninhabitable for months.
Eight days after the storm, a “tin hat roof” was erected to prevent leaks. He also ensured that there were no problems with the electricity supply.
Concerning access to the communal gardens, the worst thing he did was to send a letter ‘purporting revocation’ to her right to use them.
The barrister stated that it was not suggested that he had in fact interfered with Ms Langley’s right to use the communal gardens.
He has not put up a fence or tried to block her access to the front garden.
“Put simply: the letter does no substantial interference with her rights to use the communal gardening.”
He also denied the ‘inference’ Mr Milburn had made that the plantings in the front yard were destroyed by him.
He added that plants and flowers she had grown in her back garden would have been returned to him if she had asked.
The court heard that Ms Langley had moved out of her former home after another court dispute.
After two days in court the trial was adjourned for a later date.