A weird underwater ballroom on a tech tycoon’s £30million nation property is on the coronary heart of a authorized row which has seen the millionaire landowner being sued after he shot a teenage trespasser.
Gary Steele, 63, is being sued for practically £3million after Tom Frearson, then 16, was blasted with a shotgun.
The businessman has claimed that intruders had focused his underwater ballroom, a glass-domed room accessible by way of a tunnel beneath one of many man-made lakes on the grounds and surmounted by a ‘floating’ statue of Neptune.
Trespassers would additionally search for different distinctive buildings such because the ‘Ice Home’, which was repeatedly focused as a vacation spot for events and unlawful raves, and the ‘Boat Home’.
Mr Steele shot Mr Frearson in July 2018 a day after {the teenager} had trespassed on his property. The tycoon was later arrested however cleared of tried homicide. He reportedly bought the Witley Property a yr later for £30million and now lives at £12million Roundhurst Farm in Lurgashall, Surrey.
A preferred goal for trespassers was the weird underwater ballroom on the property, a glass-domed room accessible by way of a tunnel submerged beneath one of many man-made lakes on the grounds
Gary Steele, 63, boss of a profitable superfast broadband tech agency, claimed he ‘by chance’ shot the teenager whereas feeling ‘remoted and afraid’ after his property after his property had been focused by an internet group who had been making an attempt to discover a few of its buildings
Tom Frearson says he was shot within the again with a Beretta 20-bore double-barrelled shotgun outdoors Witley Park Property close to Godalming in Surrey
Trespassers can enter the underwater ballroom via a hidden entrance tucked away contained in the woodland subsequent to the lake
Witley Park, previously referred to as Lea Park, is an property relationship from the Nineteenth-century which has three synthetic lakes.
In 1890, the Whitaker Wright bought Lea Park, and the adjoining South Park Farm, from the Earl of Derby.
Wright developed a pre-existing home right into a 32-bedroom mansion adjoining to one in every of three synthetic lakes – the place he additionally constructed the underwater ballroom.
Mr Frearson, of Hambledon, Surrey, is now suing the tycoon, claiming he was ‘deliberate or reckless’ in firing the gun and inflicting him accidents which he says have left him struggling to get work and needing lifelong care and help.
However Mr Steele is defending the declare, insisting his actions had been nether deliberate nor reckless. He says the teenager bumped into the trail of a ‘warning shot’ he had fired to scare him off whereas feeling ‘weak’ after his property was focused by explorers.
Mr Steele was discovered responsible of possession of a shotgun with no licence, having been acquitted of tried homicide, wounding with intent and illegal wounding by a jury at Guildford Crown Court docket in October 2019.
He was sentenced to fifteen months’ jail, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay a complete of £11,140 in fines and prices. He was additionally informed to forfeit the shotgun and ammunition.
The courtroom heard In 2017 and 2018 they suffered intensive issues with felony conduct from being a give attention to social media whereby individuals inspired one another to interrupt into the property.
The highest of the underwater ballroom which has turn out to be a hotspot for city explorers to hunt out. It’s positioned in one of many property’s man-made lakes
A gatehouse at Witley Park, the place businessman Mr Steele, who didn’t have a shotgun licence, allegedly shot Mr Frearson over a wall as he was standing on public land, a declare he denies
Witley Park is about within the beautiful Surrey countryside close to Godalming, which Mr Steele claimed had been focused by city explorers as a part of an internet dare marketing campaign. Pictured is a part of the nation property
In papers submitted to the Excessive Court docket, his barrister Laura Johnson KC says: ‘Because of its follies, specifically the underground ballroom and the ‘Ice Home’, the property attracted trespassers trying to discover the grounds.
‘Though a few of these people left when requested, the defendant and his accomplice additionally encountered incidents of felony harm, delinquent behaviour and theft.
‘One of many follies, the Ice Home, was repeatedly focused as a vacation spot for events and unlawful raves. The Boat Home was additionally focused by individuals breaking in, stealing – and finally sinking – the defendant’s boat and in search of to realize entry to the Underwater Ballroom or the Ice Home.
‘Occasionally, intruders even introduced their very own watercraft to make use of on the lake to realize entry to the follies.
‘In November 2014, there have been two incidents on the property. The primary concerned two follies being damaged into. A number of days later, on November 17 2014, the Underwater Ballroom was damaged into.
‘Through the course of the police investigation into these incidents, the defendant found that the Underwater Ballroom had turn out to be the topic of a problem publicised on social media, which inspired people to enter the property, break into the Underwater Ballroom and take {a photograph} of themselves there.
‘This was very upsetting to the defendant. He invested vital time requesting web websites to take away reference to or footage of this problem. However these efforts, issues with trespassers and intruders continued.’
On the night time of the capturing, a gaggle of youths – whom Mr Frearson knew however was not with – had been noticed throughout the grounds of the property, with youths having additionally been within the grounds the earlier night time, the barrister claims.
‘The defendant and his accomplice had been frightened by the arrival of the claimant’s buddies. It was a Monday night. Extra youths attended than the night time earlier than, their behaviour was bolder and the defendant and his accomplice felt weak as a result of the police had not attended the earlier night when their help was sought.
Mr Frearson was shot by Mr Steele whereas strolling alongside Lea Coach Street. Mr Steele claims the teenager had run right into a warning shot
Mr Steele, 63, shot him from over a wall at his 1,300 acre Witley Property, close to Godalming, Surrey, in July 2019. Pictured is the property
‘They’d no close to neighbours and had been remoted and afraid.
‘The defendant wished to ask them to depart. He believed that their behaviour was bolder and escalating.
‘He took the gun with him for reassurance due to the earlier incidents when he had been verbally assaulted, had stones thrown at him and been threatened.’
His lawyer stated: ‘Because of the defendant’s worry, with the intention of horrifying the intruder away with the sound of the shot, he determined to fireside a warning shot.
‘It’s now identified that the intruder on the opposite aspect of the wall, under the place the defendant was standing and out of sight, was the claimant.’
‘Because the defendant fired the warning shot, the claimant bumped into the vary of the shot and was hit. On the time the defendant fired the shot, he believed that it was secure to do.’
In paperwork lodged with the courtroom, Mr Frearson’s barrister Colm Nugent says he was ‘strolling outdoors the perimeter wall of the property alongside or close to a public footpath’ when he was ‘shot by the defendant with none forewarning from an elevated place throughout the grounds’.
He added: ‘It later transpired that the defendant wrongly believed or claimed to imagine that the claimant had been trespassing on his land earlier that very same day.
‘The defendant fired the shotgun on the claimant from a distance of roughly 12 meters.
‘After he had shot the claimant he stated to him over the wall ‘I informed you to not come again’.’
The submissions within the paperwork submitted to the courtroom have but to be examined in proof earlier than a decide.