Fury of pensioner, 87, after placards he put up in his front garden attacking his neighbours and a ‘cowboy builder’ over garden wall that ‘juts onto his land by just TWO INCHES …

The protest of a pensioner who launched a campaign attacking his neighbours extension has been blighted after placards he put up accusing them of being thieves were ripped down. 

Ewen Taylor is refusing to back down after he started to protest against the extension the neighbouring family built, which he claims encroaches on his back garden in his home in Grangetown, Cardiff, by a couple of inches.

Last September, the 87-year-old received a £90 fine for criminal damage after he drilled holes in the wall he shares with his neighbours in protest to the ‘illegal building work.’ 

Ewen Taylor is refusing to back down after he started to protest against the extension the neighbouring family built

Mr Taylor has since reattached any damaged signs outside his house alongside a new placard which reads: ‘Who used a ladder to steal my sign?’

Some of the messages read: ‘You and your cowboy builder are thiefs [sic]’; ‘Other councils take down illegle [sic] building work’; ‘Will they sue me?’; and ‘Do not like my signs, tell the council’.

Following the fine, he turned to a new form of protest and began putting wooden placards at the front of his house criticising the family, who deny any encroachment. 

Some of the messages read: ‘You and your cowboy builder are thiefs [sic]’; ‘Other councils take down illegle [sic] building work’; ‘Will they sue me?’; and ‘Do not like my signs, tell the council’. 

He has previously said the family next door, who say the row has left their children ’embarrassed to go out’, should sue him if they want him to remove the signs. 

But when Mr Taylor, a retired builder, looked out his window on Friday, he realised three of the wooden placards, which he had screwed to a wooden frame in his front garden, were gone.  

A placard which had been attached to his first-floor window had also been removed. 

‘They either used a ladder or they are very tall,’ Mr Taylor told WalesOnline. 

‘I was popping to the shop in the morning to pick up a paper and I thought: ‘Oh my God, the signs are gone.’ Disconcerting is a nice way of putting it.

‘It was a real shock to think that somebody had been out here overnight on my property with a ladder stealing my signs. That’s very annoying. In fact more than annoying.’ 

Following a fine for criminal damage, Mr Taylor turned to a new form of protest and began putting wooden placards at the front of his house criticising his neighbours

Pictured: Mr Taylor has a collection of signs accusing his neighbours of illegal building work 

The neighbours – a married couple with four children aged eight to 20 – deny any encroachment. 

They built the extension in 2020 which pushed their bathroom back to create more dining space. 

Builders knocked down the old garden wall and built a replacement, which is the source of Mr Taylor’s anger.  

The mother, 42, who wished to remain anonymous said last month: ‘I have no idea why he thinks it is in his property. It is distressing, especially for my children. They are embarrassed to go out when people ask questions about the signs.

‘This has been very stressful for us and very upsetting. We didn’t want to upset anybody.’ 

There is no suggestion the family were involved in the placards being removed or damaged. 

Mr Taylor has since reattached any damaged signs outside his house alongside a new placard which reads: ‘Who used a ladder to steal my sign?’    

‘Who can you blame?,’ Mr Taylor added. ‘Someone might have a grudge against my signs. Okay, I can accept that. But as to who and why I cannot help you at all.’

A placard which had been attached to his first-floor window had also been removed

Pictured: Pensioner Ewen Taylor drilled holes in his neighbour’s garden wall and put up signs complaining that their new extension encroaches on his garden by a couple of inches

Pictured: 87-year-old Ewen Taylor’s garage contains more placards about the dispute

When asked if the removal of the signs had put him off his campaign, he added: ‘Definitely not. I want my property back… All it needs is somebody to prove to me that it is mine. 

‘My signs will stay out there irrespective of what happens and how often I have to replace them. Am I optimistic my campaign will make a difference? Eventually yes. Only when somebody in authority stops saying: ‘It’s nothing to do with me.’

The family next door have said that Mr Taylor’s protest is the first time there has been a disagreement between the neighbours. 

‘Since we moved in 20 years ago [Mr Taylor] hasn’t talked to us,’ the mother-of-four said. ‘We hadn’t had an argument or anything. [The protest] is the first time there’s been any confrontation. 

‘Cardiff council says there’s no need for a planning application for extensions of six metres and this was within six metres. Then after the work was finished [Mr Taylor] drilled straight through.

‘The police took away his drill. That’s when he started with the signs… [The police] said they can’t do anything because it’s in his private property. They said it is like a protest sign even though it’s got our house number and he’s calling us thieves. How can that not be offensive?’ 

Mr Taylor accepts that he used a drill and hammer to make holes in the wall over a period of around five months. He also peeled off a strip of stucco from the building extension, for which he received the £90 fine last year for criminal damage. 

Mr Taylor said he wants the rear wall to be replaced at the same depth, width and height

Ewen Taylor claims his measuring stick shows an encroachment of a couple of inches

Damage caused by Mr Taylor who was fined £90 after being accused of criminal damage

Mr Taylor, who has lived at the property for 50 years, has said he felt he was left with ‘no other choice’ but to drill the holes after the council refused to intervene. 

One council officer wrote to Mr Taylor and stated the extension did not require planning permission and that boundary disputes are not planning matters. 

Mr Taylor wrote eight letters in total back, with one reading: ‘Two years [council officer’s name], two years of being ignored by you. Why?’ 

A spokesperson for South Wales Police confirmed they received a report about the signs being removed but that there is no ongoing police investigation in relation to the matter.       

‘South Wales Police received a report of signs being removed outside address in Clare Road, Grangetown, on July 9,’ they said. 

‘Officers attended the location to speak to the reporting person. There is no ongoing police investigation in relation to this matter. As always we will respond to any new information and investigate. The victim has been updated.’

The neighbouring family said last month that they had been advised by police that they could launch civil proceedings, but they decided not to to avoid legal costs. 

Anyone with information about the removal of Mr Taylor’s signs can contact police via 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 quoting occurrence 2200228991.